District Not Recorded

A federal grand jury in Memphis, Tennessee, returned an indictment charging a podiatrist with a scheme to defraud Medicare and TennCare by prescribing and dispensing medically unnecessary foot bath medications.

According to the indictment, Nathan Lucas, D.P.M., 56, of Memphis, owned and operated a podiatry clinic, Advanced Foot & Ankle Care of Memphis LLC, as well as multiple in-house pharmacies. The indictment alleges that Lucas regularly prescribed antibiotic and antifungal drugs to be mixed into a tub of warm water for patients to soak their feet. These drug cocktails included capsules, creams, and powders that were not indicated to be dissolved in water and some of which were not water soluble. The indictment alleges that Lucas chose these medications to prescribe and dispense based on their anticipated reimbursement amount, rather than medical necessity. For example, in 2019, Lucas wrote a prescription to a patient for 1,080 capsules of vancomycin, 7,650 grams of econazole cream, and 180 grams of lidocaine, all to be dissolved in a foot bath, and caused Medicare to reimburse his pharmacy over $18,000 for dispensing these drugs. From in or around October 2018 to the present, Lucas allegedly caused his pharmacies to submit nearly $4 million in claims to Medicare and TennCare for dispensing expensive foot bath medications that were not medically necessary and would not have been eligible for reimbursement.

Lucas is charged with five counts of health care fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison per count. A federal district court judge in the Western District of Tennessee will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph C. Murphy Jr. for the Western District of Tennessee; and Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson of the Department of Health and Human Services–Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.

HHS-OIG and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Justin M. Woodard and Sara E. Porter of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Cotten of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Health Care Fraud Strike Force. Since its inception in March 2007, the Health Care Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 15 strike forces operating in 24 federal districts, has charged more than 4,600 defendants who have collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers for approximately $23 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

A federal grand jury in Columbus, Ohio, returned an indictment charging an Ohio man for threatening a reproductive health services facility.

According to court documents, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez Brime, 25, of Columbus, made two separate telephone threats to an Ohio reproductive health services clinic. The first count charges Brime with a violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it a federal crime to threaten the use of force to intimidate anyone receiving or providing reproductive health services. The second count charges Brime with making threatening statements through interstate communications and the third count charges Brime with making a bomb threat.

The charges stem from two separate telephoned threats that Brime made to a reproductive health care clinic on April 11, in which Brime made a death threat and a bomb threat. 

If convicted of the offenses, Brime faces up to a maximum of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. 

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Columbus Resident Agency of the Cincinnati Field Office and the Columbus Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Sanjay Patel of the Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Czerniejewski.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, and not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The Department of Justice announced today criminal charges against 138 defendants, including 42 doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals, in 31 federal districts across the United States for their alleged participation in various health care fraud schemes that resulted in approximately $1.4 billion in alleged losses.

The charges target approximately $1.1 billion in fraud committed using telemedicine (the use of telecommunications technology to provide health care services remotely), $29 million in COVID-19 health care fraud, $133 million connected to substance abuse treatment facilities, or “sober homes,” and $160 million connected to other health care fraud and illegal opioid distribution schemes across the country.

“This nationwide enforcement action demonstrates that the Criminal Division is at the forefront of the fight against health care fraud and opioid abuse by prosecuting those who have exploited health care benefit programs and their patients for personal gain,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The charges announced today send a clear deterrent message and should leave no doubt about the department’s ongoing commitment to ensuring the safety of patients and the integrity of health care benefit programs, even amid a continued pandemic.”

Today’s enforcement actions were led and coordinated by the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, in conjunction with its Health Care Fraud and Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid (ARPO) Strike Force program and its core partners, the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), FBI, and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), as part of the department’s ongoing efforts to combat the devastating effects of health care fraud and the opioid epidemic. The cases are being prosecuted by Health Care Fraud and ARPO Strike Force teams from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, in coordination with 31 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide, and agents from HHS-OIG, FBI, DEA, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies.

“Health care fraud targets the vulnerable in our communities, our health care system, and our basic expectation of competent, available care,” said Assistant Director Calvin Shivers of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Despite a continued pandemic, the FBI and our law enforcement partners remain dedicated to safeguarding American taxpayers and businesses from the steep cost of health care fraud.”

“We have seen all too often criminals who engage in health care fraud — stealing from taxpayers while jeopardizing the health of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries,” said Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Gary L. Cantrell of HHS-OIG. “Today’s announcement should serve as another warning to individuals who may be considering engaging in such illicit activity: our agency and its law enforcement partners remain unrelenting in our commitment to rooting out fraud, holding bad actors accountable, and protecting the millions of beneficiaries who rely on federal health care programs.”

“Holding to account those responsible for health care fraud and diversion of prescription drugs is a priority for DEA,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “These fraudulent activities prey on our most vulnerable – those in pain, the substance-addicted, and even the homeless – those who are most susceptible to promises of relief, recovery, or a new start. Not only do these schemes profit from desperation, but they often leave their victims even deeper in addiction. We are grateful to our partners who stand with us to keep our communities safer and healthier through our collective efforts to prevent the misuse and over-prescribing of controlled medications.”

“Every dollar saved is critical to the sustainability of our Medicare programs and meeting the needs of seniors and people with disabilities,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “CMS has taken actions against 28 providers on behalf of people with Medicare coverage and to protect the Medicare Trust Fund. Actions like this to combat fraud, waste and abuse in our federal programs would not be possible without the successful partnership of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.” 

Telemedicine Fraud Cases

The largest amount of alleged fraud loss charged in connection with the cases announced today – over $1.1 billion in allegedly false and fraudulent claims submitted by more than 43 criminal defendants in 11 judicial districts – relates to schemes involving telemedicine. According to court documents, certain defendant telemedicine executives allegedly paid doctors and nurse practitioners to order unnecessary durable medical equipment, genetic and other diagnostic testing, and pain medications, either without any patient interaction or with only a brief telephonic conversation with patients they had never met or seen. Durable medical equipment companies, genetic testing laboratories, and pharmacies then purchased those orders in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes and submitted over $1.1 billion in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and other government insurers. In some instances, medical professionals billed Medicare for sham telehealth consultations that did not occur as represented. The proceeds of the scheme were spent on luxury items, including vehicles, yachts, and real estate. 

The continued focus on prosecuting health care fraud schemes involving telemedicine reflects the success of the nationwide coordinating role of the Fraud Section’s National Rapid Response Strike Force, the creation of which was announced at the 2020 National Health Care Fraud and Opioid Takedown. The National Rapid Response Strike Force helped coordinate the prosecution of the telemedicine initiative, Sober Homes initiative, and COVID-19 cases that were announced today. The focus on telemedicine fraud also builds on the telemedicine component of last year’s national takedown and the impact of the 2019 “Operation Brace Yourself” Telemedicine and Durable Medical Equipment Takedown, which resulted in an estimated cost avoidance of more than $1.9 billion in the amount paid by Medicare for orthotic braces in the 20 months following that takedown.

COVID-19 Fraud Cases

Nine defendants in the cases announced today are alleged to have engaged in various health care fraud schemes designed to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the submission of over $29 million in false billings. In one type of scheme, defendants are alleged to have exploited policies that were put in place by the CMS to enable increased access to care during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as expanded telehealth regulations and rules. Defendants allegedly misused patient information to submit claims to Medicare for unrelated, medically unnecessary, and expensive laboratory tests, including cancer genetic testing.

The law enforcement action today also includes criminal charges against five defendants who allegedly engaged in the misuse of Provider Relief Fund monies. The Provider Relief Fund is part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, a federal law enacted March 2020 designed to provide needed medical care to Americans suffering from COVID-19. The defendants allegedly used the moneys for their own personal expenses, including for gambling at a Las Vegas casino and paying a luxury car dealership. 

The COVID-19 cases announced today build upon the success of the COVID-19 Health Care Fraud Takedown on May 26, a coordinated law enforcement action against 14 defendants in seven judicial districts for over $128 million in false billings. The law enforcement action and the cases announced today were brought in coordination with the Health Care Fraud Unit’s COVID-19 Interagency Working Group, which is chaired by the National Rapid Response Strike Force and organizes efforts to address illegal activity involving health care programs during the pandemic.

Sober Homes Cases

The sober homes cases are announced on the one-year anniversary of the first ever national sober homes initiative in 2020, which included charges against more than a dozen criminal defendants in connection with more than $845 million of allegedly false and fraudulent claims for tests and treatments for vulnerable patients seeking treatment for drug and/or alcohol addiction. The over $133 million in false and fraudulent claims that are additionally alleged in cases announced today reflect the continued effort by the National Rapid Response Strike Force and the Health Care Fraud Unit’s Los Angeles Strike Force, with the participation of the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Central District of California and the Southern District of Florida, to prosecute those who participated in illegal kickback and bribery schemes involving the referral of patients to substance abuse treatment facilities; those patients could be subjected to medically unnecessary drug testing – often billing thousands of dollars for a single test – and therapy sessions that frequently were not provided, and which resulted in millions of dollars of false and fraudulent claims being submitted to private insurers.

Cases Involving the Illegal Prescription and/or Distribution of Opioids and Cases Involving Traditional Health Care Fraud Schemes

The cases announced today involving the illegal prescription and/or distribution of opioids involve 19 defendants, including several charges against medical professionals and others who prescribed over 12 million doses of opioids and other prescription narcotics, while submitting over $14 million in false billings. The cases that fall into more traditional categories of health care fraud include charges against over 60 defendants who allegedly participated in schemes to submit more than $145 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and private insurance companies for treatments that were medically unnecessary and often never provided.

Prior to the charges announced as part of today’s nationwide enforcement action and since its inception in March 2007, the Health Care Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 15 strike forces operating in 24 districts, has charged more than 4,600 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for approximately $23 billion. In addition to the criminal actions announced today, CMS, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, announced 28 administrative actions to decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

A complaint, information or indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

To view Assistant Attorney General Polite’s remarks, see https://www.justice.gov/opa/video/assistant-attorney-general-kenneth-polite-jr-delivers-remarks-health-care-enforcement.

A federal district court in Baltimore, Maryland, unsealed an indictment today charging a Maryland couple with conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and related charges for money laundering, filing false tax returns and identity theft.

The indictment charges that from 1996 to the present, James and Maureen Wilson, of Owings Mills, allegedly conspired to defraud insurance companies by obtaining over 30 life insurance policies for applicants by mispresenting their health, wealth and existing life insurance coverage. The total death benefits from these policies allegedly was approximately $20 million. The indictment also charges that the Wilsons conspired to defraud individual investors to obtain funds that the Wilsons used to pay premiums on fraudulently-obtained life insurance policies. To conceal the fraud, the Wilsons allegedly transferred the proceeds of the fraud through multiple bank accounts, including accounts in the name of trusts. The Wilsons allegedly did not report approximately $5.7 million and $2 million that they received in life insurance proceeds on their 2018 and 2019 individual tax returns.

James Wilson is scheduled for his initial court appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge A. David Copperthite of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Maureen Wilson’s initial appearance is scheduled for Sept. 20 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth P. Gesner of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

If convicted, the Wilsons faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering; and three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return. James Wilson faces two years in prison for each count of aggravated identity theft and Maureen Wilson faces 10 years in prison for transactional money laundering. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lenzner of the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Maryland, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Darrell J. Waldon of IRS-Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office, made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case, with assistance from the Maryland Insurance Administration and the Maryland Office of the Attorney General.

Trial Attorney Shawn Noud of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Phelps and Stephanie Williamson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. –  The Justice Department announced today that the developer and owners of eight senior living complexes in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee have agreed to pay $450,000 to settle claims that they violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to build these properties with required accessible features for people with disabilities. As part of the settlement, the defendants agreed to make substantial retrofits to remove accessibility barriers at the complexes, including more than 1,500 units.

Under the consent order that was approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Dominion Management LLC and its affiliate companies will pay all costs related to the retrofits, $400,000 into a settlement fund to compensate individuals harmed by the inaccessible housing, and $50,000 in civil penalties to the government. The defendants also will undergo training, ensure that any future construction complies with federal accessibility laws, and make periodic reports to the Justice Department. 

This matter originated when the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee learned of potential accessibility barriers at Somerby Franklin, the Dominion-built property in Franklin, Tennessee.

“All people deserve equal access to housing, including people with disabilities. The Justice Department stands ready to vigorously enforce federal laws to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Department’s Civil Rights Division.  “The agreement requires comprehensive corrections that will make the properties accessible for the senior citizens and people with disabilities who live there so that they can more fully enjoy their homes.” 

“Today’s resolution ensures that a substantial number of persons with disabilities have accessible and safe living spaces,” said U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona for the Northern District of Alabama. “Our office will continue to work tirelessly to enforce the Fair Housing Act, and to see that its promise is met.”

“This settlement will lead to overdue property improvements which will serve to improve the quality of life for many elderly and disabled residents,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Mary Jane Stewart for the Middle District of Tennessee. “The FHA and the ADA exist, among other reasons, to prevent these kinds of obstacles from interfering with the daily activities of protected classes of residents. We will continue to vigorously investigate these types of complaints and take appropriate action to resolve issues which may run afoul of civil rights statutes.”

Under the settlement, the defendants will, among other things, create accessible pedestrian walkways to the leasing office and site amenities, install accessible curb cuts and parking, and modify kitchens and bathrooms at these senior living complexes: 

• Fleming Farms, Huntsville (Alabama)
• Somerby St. Vincent’s One Nineteen, Birmingham (Alabama)
• Somerby Peachtree City (Georgia)
• Somerby Sandy Springs (Georgia)
• Westside, Alpharetta (Georgia)
• Somerby Santa Rosa Beach (Florida)
• Somerby Mount Pleasant (South Carolina)
• Somerby Franklin (Tennessee)

Individuals who are entitled to share in the settlement fund will be identified through a process established in the consent order. Persons who believe that they or their family members were subjected to unlawful discrimination at any of these complexes should contact the Justice Department toll-free at 1-833-591-0291, select option 1 for English; select option 4 for housing accessibility for persons with disabilities; and select option 2 for Dominion Management LLC to leave a voice message or e-mail the Justice Department at fairhousing@usdoj.gov.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division enforces the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing based on disability, race, color, religion, national origin, sex and familial status. The FHA requires all multifamily housing constructed after March 13, 1991, to have basic accessible features. Enacted in 1990, the ADA requires that places of public accommodation, such as rental offices at multifamily complexes designed and constructed for first occupancy after Jan. 26, 1993, be accessible to persons with disabilities. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt.  Individuals may report disability discrimination or other forms of housing discrimination by calling the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, or submitting a report online at http://civilrights.justice.gov/. Individuals also may report discrimination by contacting the Department of Housing and Urban Development at 1-800-669-9777, or by filing a complaint online. 

This case was handled by Trial Attorney Julie Allen, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Bowden McIntyre from Middle District of Tennessee and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Cheek from the Northern District of Alabama. 

The Justice Department announced that the developer and owners of eight senior living complexes in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee have agreed to pay $450,000 to settle claims that they violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to build these properties with required accessible features for people with disabilities. As part of the settlement, the defendants agreed to make substantial retrofits to remove accessibility barriers at the complexes, including more than 1,500 units.

Under the consent order that was approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Dominion Management LLC and its affiliate companies will pay all costs related to the retrofits, $400,000 into a settlement fund to compensate individuals harmed by the inaccessible housing and $50,000 in civil penalties to the government. The defendants also will undergo training, ensure that any future construction complies with federal accessibility laws and make periodic reports to the Justice Department. 

This matter originated when the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee learned of potential accessibility barriers at Somerby Franklin, the Dominion-built property in Franklin, Tennessee.

“All people deserve equal access to housing, including people with disabilities. The Justice Department stands ready to vigorously enforce federal laws to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The agreement requires comprehensive corrections that will make the properties accessible for the senior citizens and people with disabilities who live there so that they can more fully enjoy their homes.” 

“Today’s resolution ensures that a substantial number of persons with disabilities have accessible and safe living spaces,” said U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona for the Northern District of Alabama. “Our office will continue to work tirelessly to enforce the Fair Housing Act, and to see that its promise is met.”

“This settlement will lead to overdue property improvements which will serve to improve the quality of life for many elderly and disabled residents,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Mary Jane Stewart for the Middle District of Tennessee. “The FHA and the ADA exist, among other reasons, to prevent these kinds of obstacles from interfering with the daily activities of protected classes of residents. We will continue to vigorously investigate these types of complaints and take appropriate action to resolve issues which may run afoul of civil rights statutes.”

Under the settlement, the defendants will, among other things, create accessible pedestrian walkways to the leasing office and site amenities, install accessible curb cuts and parking and modify kitchens and bathrooms at these senior living complexes: 

• Fleming Farms, Huntsville (Alabama)
• Somerby St. Vincent’s One Nineteen, Birmingham (Alabama)
• Somerby Peachtree City (Georgia)
• Somerby Sandy Springs (Georgia)
• Westside, Alpharetta (Georgia)
• Somerby Santa Rosa Beach (Florida)
• Somerby Mount Pleasant (South Carolina)
• Somerby Franklin (Tennessee)

This case was handled by Trial Attorney Julie Allen, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Bowden McIntyre from Middle District of Tennessee and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Cheek from the Northern District of Alabama. 

Individuals who are entitled to share in the settlement fund will be identified through a process established in the consent order. Persons who believe that they or their family members were subjected to unlawful discrimination at any of these complexes should contact the Justice Department toll-free at 1-833-591-0291, select option 1 for English; select option 4 for housing accessibility for persons with disabilities; and select option 2 for Dominion Management LLC to leave a voice message or e-mail the Justice Department at fairhousing@usdoj.gov.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division enforces the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing based on disability, race, color, religion, national origin, sex and familial status. The FHA requires all multifamily housing constructed after March 13, 1991, to have basic accessible features. Enacted in 1990, the ADA requires that places of public accommodation, such as rental offices at multifamily complexes designed and constructed for first occupancy after Jan. 26, 1993, be accessible to persons with disabilities. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt. Individuals may report disability discrimination or other forms of housing discrimination by calling the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, or submitting a report online at http://civilrights.justice.gov/. Individuals also may report discrimination by contacting the Department of Housing and Urban Development at 1-800-669-9777, or by filing a complaint online. 

A well-known dog-fighting trainer and breeder has pleaded guilty to a federal animal fighting charge as the result of an ongoing investigation into a significant multi-state dog fighting and drug trafficking ring.

Vernon Vegas, 49, of Suwanee, Georgia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in an animal fighting venture on Sept. 14. According to court documents, law enforcement investigated a criminal organization involved in both cocaine distribution and organized dog fighting based out of Roberta, Georgia, which extended into North Georgia, Florida and Alabama from May 2019 until February 2020. In February 2020, law enforcement executed 15 residential search warrants and seized more than 150 dogs that were being used for organized dog fighting.

“This case illustrates the connection between the underworld of drugs, organized crime and dog-fighting,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Vernon Vegas profited from these dogs’ pain and will rightly be held to account.”

“Vernon Vegas was the trainer to the trainers — he taught individuals about the bloody and brutal business of dog-fighting and worked to ensure it was thriving,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary for the Middle District of Georgia. “Dog fighting ventures are magnets for a multitude of dangerous criminal activity. Our office and law enforcement will not tolerate animal fighting or the crimes surrounding it; we will seek federal prosecution when warranted.”

Between October 1996 and February 2020, Vegas, the owner of Cane Valley Kennels, bred, trained, sold and transported dogs for the purpose of the dog fighting. As part of his business, Vegas designed and offered a seven-week “keep” where he trained dogs for animal fighting ventures, prepared on-line pedigrees for the fighting dogs bred and trained at Cane Valley Kennels, provided advice to his co-conspirators on how to train dogs for purposes of engaging in animal fighting ventures, and kept a multitude of training and conditioning equipment including slat mills, chains, a staple gun, hanging weight scales, break sticks, flirt poles and various medicines to treat injuries or disease sustained by dogs made to fight. Between January 2017, and February 2020, Vegas attended dog fights with co-conspirators Derrick Owens and Christopher Raines at locations in the Middle District of Georgia and advised Owens on various matters related to preparing dogs for animal fighting.

Vegas faces a maximum five years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and a maximum $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 7.

The case was investigated by the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Agriculture- Office of the Inspector General (USDA-OIG), U.S. Marshals Service, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, Houston County Sheriff’s Office, Merriweather County Sheriff’s Office, Peach County Sheriff’s Office, Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, Webster County Sheriff’s Office, Byron Police Department and the Fort Valley Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Keyes with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia and Trial Attorney Banu Rangarajan with ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section are prosecuting the case.

A former information technology (IT) executive pleaded guilty today in the Western District of Pennsylvania to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and aiding in the preparation of a false tax return.

According to court documents and his admissions in court, Dayakar Mallu, 51, of Orlando, Florida, admitted that between 2017 and 2019 he conspired with others to trade in the securities of Mylan N.V., a NASDAQ-listed public company, in advance of corporate announcements concerning drug approvals, financial earnings, and a merger. Mallu, who was at the time Vice President of Global Operations Information Technology of Mylan, and an unnamed co-conspirator, who was a Mylan executive, conspired to provide Mallu with material, non-public information in advance of the company’s public announcements. Mallu then placed trades in the company’s securities and shared trading profits with his co-conspirator through cash transactions in India. Mallu’s trading resulted in more than $8 million in unrealized profits and losses avoided; he ultimately realized net profits and losses avoided of more than $4.2 million from his insider trading. 

According to court documents and his admissions in court, Mallu also admitted that he sent false information to his tax preparer relating to Opel Systems LLC, a company that he owned and controlled. Specifically, Mallu falsely told the preparer that Opel had paid $1.3 million to a contractor when, in fact, Mallu had caused Opel to transfer those funds to his personal securities brokerage account. Mallu’s false statement resulted in the preparation of a false 2015 corporate return for Opel.

Mallu is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 24, 2022, and faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison for the conspiracy offense and three years in prison for the tax offense. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI Washington Field Office (FBI-WFO); and Acting Special Agent in Charge Brian Thomas of the IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Detroit Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI-WFO and IRS-CI are investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Matthew Reilly and Principal Assistant Chief Justin Weitz of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Trial Attorney Kenneth Vert of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case. The case was previously handled by Trial Attorney Amanda Vaughn and Assistant Chief L. Rush Atkinson, previously of the Fraud Section.

The Fraud Section uses the Victim Notification System (VNS) to provide victims with case information and updates related to this case. Victims with questions may contact the Fraud Section’s Victim Assistance Unit by calling the Victim Assistance phone line at 1-888-549-3945 or by emailing Victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov. To learn more about victims’ rights, please visit https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/Dayakar-Mallu. If you believe you are a victim who has invested in Mylan, please visit https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/Dayakar-Mallu.

A federal court in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana has permanently enjoined two New Orleans-area tax return preparers from preparing returns for others and from owning, operating, or franchising any tax return preparation business in the future.

The court entered judgment against Mario Alexander by default; defendant Leroi Jackson consented to entry of the injunction against him. The terms of the orders require that Alexander and Jackson, both individually and doing business as The Taxman Financial Services, send notices of the injunction to each person for whom they prepared federal tax returns and post the injunctions in places where they conduct business, including social media accounts and websites. The orders also provide that the United States may conduct post-judgment discovery to monitor compliance.

The civil complaint filed against Alexander and Jackson alleged that they prepared tax returns claiming fabricated business income and expenses, as well as claiming various false tax deductions and credits, including charitable contributions and education credits. It also alleged that defendants fabricated business income and/or expenses in order to increase claims for earned income tax credits. According to the complaint, Alexander and Jackson significantly underreported their customers’ tax liabilities, obtained fraudulent tax refunds, and charged exorbitant fees for their services, often without their customers’ knowledge.

Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. (More information can also be found here.) The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer, has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers, and offers information on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers, whose refusal to sign a return should be a red flag to taxpayers.  The IRS also has a list of important reminders for taxpayers who are about to file their 2020 tax returns, including how to prepare for a smooth filing process.

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

John T. Earnest, 22, pleaded guilty in federal court to a 113-count indictment for the religiously- and racially-motivated murder of one person and the attempted murders of 53 other persons.

According to court documents, after several weeks of planning, on the morning of April 27, 2019, Earnest drove to the Chabad of Poway synagogue, where members of the congregation were gathered for religious worship. Earnest entered the building armed with a Smith and Wesson M&P 15 assault rifle that was fully loaded with a 10-round magazine. He wore a chest rig which contained five additional magazines, each loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition. Earnest opened fire, killing one person and injuring three other members of the congregation, including a then eight-year-old child. After Earnest emptied his initial magazine, several congregants rushed at Earnest. Earnest fled in his car and, shortly after, called 911 and confessed that he had “just shot up a synagogue.” Earnest was apprehended by local law enforcement who found the rifle and additional ammunition in his car.

“The defendant entered a synagogue with the intent to kill all those inside because of his hatred for Jewish people, and days earlier used fire in an attempt to destroy another sacred house of worship because of his hatred for Muslims,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “There is no place in American society for this type of hate-fueled violence. The Department of Justice will enforce hate crimes and anti-discrimination laws to the fullest extent of the law and will hold perpetrators accountable for these crimes, which inflict harm not only on individual victims, but on entire communities.”

“This nation stands with Lori Gilbert Kaye’s family and the survivors of these unspeakable acts of terror,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman for the Southern District of California. “We emphatically reject the defendant’s hate, racism and prejudice, and we hope the conclusion of this case brings some measure of comfort to all those affected by his heinous crimes.”

“We continue to keep Lori Gilbert Kaye, the loved ones she left behind, and all those affected by the senseless acts of terror committed in 2019 in our thoughts,” said FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. “Violence motivated by racism and hate is reprehensible and must be vigorously pursued. The FBI is committed to ensuring that those responsible for hate crimes and all forms of violent extremism are brought to justice.”

“The tragic shooting at Poway Synagogue was shocking for our community,” said Special Agent in Charge Monique Villegas of the ATF Los Angeles Field Division. “Our condolences go out to the victims and their families who were affected by this horrific act. ATF remains committed to bringing individuals responsible for such acts to justice to ensure everyone can worship safely.”

Earnest also admitted that on March 24, 2019, he attempted to set fire to the Dar-ul-Arqam mosque in Escondido, California, because of his hatred of Muslims and the religious character of the building. Seven missionaries were asleep in the mosque, but no one was injured.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shane Harrigan and Peter Ko, along with Deputy Chief Rose Gibson of the Civil Rights Division. The FBI, ATF and San Diego Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.  

According to the terms of the plea agreement, the United States and Earnest will jointly recommend a sentence of life in prison followed by 30 years of imprisonment. Sentencing has been scheduled for Dec. 28. 

The Department of Justice has selected an additional 12 federally recognized Tribes to participate in the expansion of the Tribal Access Program for National Crime Information (TAP), a program that provides tribal governments with means to access, enter and exchange data with national crime information systems, including those maintained by the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division and the states.

“Timely access to federal criminal information can help protect domestic violence victims, place foster children in safe conditions, solve crimes and apprehend fugitives on tribal land, among other important uses,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “Increasing tribal access to criminal databases is a priority of the Justice Department and this Administration, and essential to many tribal government efforts to strengthen public safety in their communities.”

The program provides training as well as software and biometric/biographic kiosk workstations to process fingerprints, take mugshots and submit information to FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) systems. With these additional tribes, there are now 108 federally recognized Tribes participating in TAP.

TAP has been an important resource for the department’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative and the Presidential Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives known as Operation Lady Justice. The Department of Justice began TAP in 2015 in response to concerns raised by tribal leaders about the need to have direct access to federal systems.

Using TAP, Tribes have shared information about missing persons; registered convicted sex offenders; entered domestic violence orders of protection for nationwide enforcement; run criminal histories; identified and arrested fugitives; entered bookings and convictions; and completed fingerprint-based record checks for non-criminal justice purposes such as screening employees or volunteers who work with children. 

The following tribes have been newly selected for participation in TAP:

1. Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation
2. Cow Creek Band of Umpqua
3. Fort Belknap Indian Community
4. Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa
5. Havasupai Tribe
6. Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
7. Menominee Tribe
8. Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
9. Muckleshoot Tribe
10. Passamaquoddy Tribe
11. Shingle Springs Band of Miwok
12. United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee

TAP is managed by the Justice Department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer and the Office of Tribal Justice. It is funded by the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW).

For more information on TAP, visit www.justice.gov/tribal/tribal-access-program-tap.

Hagatña, Guam – SHAWN N. ANDERSON, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that defendant Teresa Adamos Pereda, age 57, from Barrigada, Guam, was sentenced in the United States District Court of Guam in connection with two separate fraudulent schemes.  Pereda pleaded guilty on January 31, 2020 to multiple counts of Bank Fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1344, in Criminal Case No. 19-00047; and on April 14, 2021 to multiple counts of Wire Fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1343, and one count of Unlawful Use of Seals of U.S. Departments or Agencies, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §506(a)(2), in Criminal Case No. 21-00004.  United States District Judge John C. Coughenour sentenced Pereda to a 60-month term of imprisonment, to run concurrent to a 96-month term of imprisonment and five years of supervised release.  Judge Coughenour also ordered Pereda to pay $1,150,430 restitution to her former employer, an additional $2,527,838 restitution to other multiple victims, forfeiture money judgments of $1,150,430 and $2,527,838, and $3,500 special assessment fees, and to forfeit personal property.

Pereda was employed as an office manager at the dental clinic of Robert R. Gatewood D.D.S. M.S., A Professional Corporation.  From January 2011 until her termination in September 2019, she stole $1,150,430 from her employer by writing 284 fraudulent checks from her employer’s First Hawaiian Bank checking account for her personal use.  To conceal the embezzlement scheme from her employer and First Hawaiian Bank, Pereda falsified check stubs to make it appear the checks were issued for business purposes, and falsely recorded the transactions in the company’s internal accounting system.

In a separate case, from January 2016 to November 2019, Pereda participated in an advance fee inheritance scheme and defrauded at least 36 victims, including family, friends, co-workers and members of the St. Paul Christian Church and St. Paul Christian School alumni.  She obtained $2,527,838 by falsely representing that she expected to receive a multi-million dollar inheritance from an elderly couple from Hawaii, but had to pay taxes, attorney’s fees, and other expenses up front before she could receive the funds.  Pereda convinced the victims to give her money to pay for such inheritance-related and other expenses and assured them she would repay them a larger sum of money from her inheritance. Pereda knew these claims were false at the time she made them.  She also knew that no inheritance was forthcoming from an elderly couple in Hawaii.  In addition, Pereda provided some victims with bogus documents and seals from various United States government agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency.  Pereda sent over $2.5 million of investor funds via wire transfer to other co-schemers in the United States and foreign countries.

“The significant sentence in this case reflects the extraordinary losses suffered by numerous victims,” stated Shawn N. Anderson, United States Attorney for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.  “In addition to a lengthy term of imprisonment, our prosecution of Pereda has deprived her of all proceeds from her criminal activity.  It is noteworthy that the FBI pursued this matter across multiple jurisdictions over the course of the ongoing pandemic.  We are thankful for their exceptional dedication to keeping our communities safe.”

"Pereda preyed upon the trust she gained with her employer, community, church, friends and family and defrauded them of their hard-earned money and retirement savings," said Steven Merrill, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Honolulu Field Office. "She caused the loss of millions of dollars by repeatedly lying that the pay-off would come if her victims just gave more money. The FBI is committed to investigating investment scams and I urge the people of Guam to be wary of any offers that sound 'too good to be true'."

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Marivic David, Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Guam.

A Florida return preparer pleaded guilty yesterday in the Southern District of Florida to conspiracy to defraud the United States.

According to court documents, Michlin Delivrance owned and operated Tax USA, a return preparation business with a primary office in Delray Beach. From at least 2015 through 2019, Delivrance conspired with Scott Forbes and others at Tax USA to claim inflated tax refunds for clients by reporting false income, expenses and itemized deductions on their returns. Delivrance benefited from the scheme by charging clients substantial fees to prepare the returns. In total, through his conduct, Delivrance caused a tax loss to the IRS of between $250,000 and $550,000.

Delivrance is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 21. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. Forbes previously pleaded guilty to his involvement in the conspiracy on June 1, and his sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 24. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Patrick Elwell of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Waugh of the Southern District of Florida are prosecuting the case.

The Justice Department reached an agreement today with PRTaylor Enterprises LLC, doing business as Father & Son Moving & Storage (Father & Son), to resolve allegations that it violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by failing to obtain a court order before auctioning off the entire contents of a U.S. Air Force Technical Sergeant’s two storage units while he was deployed overseas.

The United States’ complaint alleged that among the Technical Sergeant’s possessions sold by Father & Son were military gear and mementos that had belonged to a cousin killed in military action in Afghanistan, his grandfather’s military service medals, all of his household furnishings, and personal photographs.

The SCRA provides financial and housing protections and benefits to military members while they are in military service. One of the SCRA’s protections requires anyone holding a lien on the property of a servicemember to obtain a court order prior to auctioning off, selling or otherwise disposing of that property. Under the agreement, which must still be approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Father & Son must pay the Technical Sergeant $60,000 in damages, and the United States a $5,000 civil penalty. Father & Son must also implement certain new policies to prevent future SCRA violations.

“The Department of Justice is committed to vigorous enforcement of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to protect the rights of those individuals who sacrifice so much for their country,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This settlement should send a clear message to all storage facility operators that federal law prohibits them from auctioning off a servicemember’s possessions without a court order.”

“It is wrong to auction off the possessions of a servicemember who is serving our country overseas,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell for the District of Massachusetts. “The law protects servicemembers from this kind of mistreatment – they have more important things to worry about when they are overseas risking their lives to protect our nation. We will enforce the rights of our military members aggressively and hold accountable people who violate the SCRA.”

Trial Attorney Tanya Kirwan of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Torey B. Cummings of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts’ Civil Rights Unit and handled the matter. Valuable assistance was also provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations. 

This lawsuit resulted from a referral to the Justice Department from the U.S. Air Force. The department’s enforcement of the SCRA is conducted by the Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section in partnership with the 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. Since 2011, the department has obtained over $474 million in monetary relief for over 120,000 servicemembers through its enforcement of the SCRA. For more information about the department’s SCRA enforcement efforts, please visit www.servicemembers.gov.

Servicemembers and their dependents who believe that their rights under the SCRA may have been violated should contact the nearest Armed Forces Legal Assistance Program Office. Office locations may be found at legalassistance.law.af.mil/.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard A. Powers of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division issued the following statement after the Department of Transportation’s notice of proposed reassignment of schedules at Newark airport:

“The Department of Justice applauds the Department of Transportation’s efforts to preserve competition from low-cost airlines at Newark airport. Competition in the airline industry – and at Newark airport in particular – is in critically short supply. Low-cost carriers play an important role in keeping the airline industry competitive and the immense power of the major airlines in check. We look forward to working with the Department of Transportation to address similar concerns at capacity-constrained airports, and to bring consumers more choices and lower prices.” 

Click to view the notice. 

Special Counsel John Durham today announced that a federal grand jury returned an indictment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charging Michael A. Sussmann, 57, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney, with making a false statement to the FBI on Sept. 19, 2016. The charge in the indictment stems from a set of allegations brought by Sussmann to the FBI related to an alleged secret channel of communications between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank.

Sussmann is expected to make his initial appearance in the D.C. federal court as soon as tomorrow. The court will schedule the appearance.

As alleged in the indictment, on Sept. 19, 2016, Sussman, a lawyer at a large international law firm, met with the FBI General Counsel at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Sussmann had requested the meeting to provide the General Counsel with certain data files and “white papers” that allegedly demonstrated a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and a Russia-based bank. Sussmann, who had previously represented the Democratic National Committee in connection with a cyber hack, falsely stated to the General Counsel that he was not bringing these allegations to the FBI on behalf of any client. This false representation led the General Counsel to understand that Sussmann was providing information as a good citizen rather than a paid advocate or political operative. In fact, Sussmann assembled and conveyed the allegations to the FBI on behalf of at least two clients, including a U.S. technology executive and the Clinton Presidential Campaign. 

It is alleged that beginning in July 2016, Sussmann worked with the aforementioned U.S. technology executive, other cyber researchers, and a U.S.-based investigative firm to assemble the data and white papers that Sussmann ultimately provided to the FBI and the media. The technology executive, for his part, exploited his access to non-public data at multiple internet companies and enlisted the assistance of researchers at a U.S.-based university who were receiving and analyzing internet data in connection with a pending federal government cybersecurity research contract designed to identify the perpetrators of malicious cyber-attacks and protect U.S. national security. The indictment further alleges that researchers were tasked to mine this internet data to establish “an inference” and “narrative” that would tie then-presidential candidate Donald Trump to Russia, and which the executive believed would please certain “VIPs.” The indictment also alleges that Sussmann, his law firm, and the technology executive coordinated with representatives and agents of the Clinton Campaign in these efforts.

It is further alleged that Sussmann’s false statement misled FBI personnel and deprived the FBI of information that might have permitted it more fully to assess and uncover the origins of the relevant data and analysis, including the identities and motivations of Sussmann’s clients.

The FBI ultimately determined that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations of a secret communications channel between the Trump Organization and the Russia-based bank.  

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Special Counsel Andrew DeFilippis and Assistant Special Counsel Michael T. Keilty, with the support and assistance of other members of Special Counsel Durham’s team. The Special Counsel’s investigation is ongoing.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

A Florida man pleaded guilty today to his role in a fraud scheme involving the distribution of illegal products falsely labeled as dietary supplements.  

According to court documents, Anthony ”Joey” Ventrella, 43, of Boynton Beach, joined several alleged co-conspirators in committing mail and wire fraud, as well as defrauding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by using dishonest methods to prevent the agency from regulating products labeled as dietary supplements. Ventech, a company controlled by Ventrella, also pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy. Ventrella admitted that through a series of companies, including Ventech, he helped co-conspirators manufacture and distribute products to consumers that were labeled as legal dietary supplements. According to court filings, the products actually contained ingredients that made the products unapproved drugs and illegal to distribute. Ventrella admitted to importing raw ingredients from China using fraudulent paperwork that concealed the true contents of the shipments in an effort to hide his and his co-defendants’ activities from the FDA. As part of the plea agreement, Ventech agreed to forfeit the manufacturing equipment used during the alleged scheme.

“Dietary supplements that contain unapproved drugs can be dangerous for consumers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department will aggressively pursue and prosecute those who fraudulently conceal for profit the true nature of the products they distribute.”

“Products mislabeled as dietary supplements can pose a serious risk to the health of U.S. consumers,” said Special Agent in Charge Justin C. Fielder of the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) Miami Field Office. “We will continue to investigate and bring to justice those who jeopardize the public health by selling violative products.”

Ventrella pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and to defraud the United States in Ft. Lauderdale before U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas of the Southern District of Florida. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 29 and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The FDA OCI investigated the case.

Ventrella, Ventech and six other defendants previously were charged by indictment with conspiracy to obstruct the FDA and to commit mail and wire fraud, distribution of unapproved new drugs and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Two other defendants previously pleaded guilty, and the remaining four defendants are set for trial on Oct. 12.

Trial Attorneys Alistair Reader and Steven Gripkey, Senior Litigation Counsel David Frank and Assistant Director John W. Burke of the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch are prosecuting the case with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

The indictment charging the remaining defendants is merely an allegation, and those defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

A federal court in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana has permanently enjoined two New Orleans-area tax return preparers from preparing returns for others and from owning, operating or franchising any tax return preparation business in the future.

The court entered judgment against Mario Alexander by default; defendant Leroi Jackson consented to entry of the injunction against him. The terms of the orders require that Alexander and Jackson, both individually and doing business as The Taxman Financial Services, send notices of the injunction to each person for whom they prepared federal tax returns and post the injunctions in places where they conduct business, including social media accounts and websites. The orders also provide that the United States may conduct post-judgment discovery to monitor compliance.

The civil complaint filed against Alexander and Jackson alleged that they prepared tax returns claiming fabricated business income and expenses, as well as claiming various false tax deductions and credits, including charitable contributions and education credits. It also alleged that defendants fabricated business income and/or expenses in order to increase claims for earned income tax credits. According to the complaint, Alexander and Jackson significantly underreported their customers’ tax liabilities, obtained fraudulent tax refunds and charged exorbitant fees for their services, often without their customers’ knowledge.

Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. (More information can also be found here.) The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer, has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers, and offers information on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers, whose refusal to sign a return should be a red flag to taxpayers.  The IRS also has a list of important reminders for taxpayers who are about to file their 2020 tax returns, including how to prepare for a smooth filing process.

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

A federal court permanently enjoined Puerto Rican companies Pharmacare Inc., China District PR LLC, as well as their owner, Juan Reynoso, from importing children’s toys and other consumer products that violate the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) and the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA) among other laws.

In a complaint filed on Sept. 15, the United States alleged that Pharmacare, China District, and Reynoso violated the CPSA, FHSA and other related statutes and regulations by importing and selling children’s products that contained illegal levels of lead and phthalates.

According to the complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, since 2017 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) collected a total of 116 illegal children’s and other consumer products from the defendants’ import shipments and retail locations in Puerto Rico. Those samples, including 32 from Pharmacare and 84 from China District, contained a total of 296 violations of federal law, including children’s products containing illegal levels of lead or phthalates, and products such as bicycle helmets, rattles and pacifiers that failed to meet various safety or labeling requirements. Based on its findings, the CPSC issued 10 notices of violation to Pharmacare and 15 notices to China District, notifying them that their products violated federal law.

“Products sold to consumers – especially those intended for children – must be safe,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department is committed to ensuring that companies importing and selling toys and other consumer products comply with CPSC regulations and federal law.”

“I’m delighted to see the settlement of this important case that will protect children from being exposed to dangerous chemicals in their toys,” said Acting Chairman Robert S. Adler of the CPSC. “I thank CPSC and the Justice Department staff for their tireless efforts on behalf of vulnerable children.”

“There is no greater responsibility of the Department of Justice than to protect our children,” said U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico. “Companies cannot be allowed to import hazardous toys and children’s products into Puerto Rico. We take this responsibility very seriously and will take the necessary action to keep unsafe products out of the hands of our children. I appreciate and value the support from and collaboration with the Department of Justice and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.”

The consent decree, which resolves the case against all defendants, generally requires that the defendants stop importing children’s toys and certain other consumer products until the defendants implement numerous remedial measures to bring their operations into compliance with the law. These requirements include, among other things, hiring an independent product safety coordinator, conducting an audit of all imported merchandise in inventory for compliance with the CPSA, FHSA, and related laws and implementing a written product safety program. The defendants may resume importing children’s and other consumer products only after implementing these measures and demonstrating that their operations fully comply with federal law.

Trial Attorney Lauren M. Elfner of the Justice Department’s Consumer Protection Branch is handling the case with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney David Martorani for the District of Puerto Rico and Renee McCune of the CPSC’s Office of the General Counsel.

Xtreme Diesel Performance (XDP), an automotive parts manufacturer and retailer based in Wall Township, New Jersey, with a sales distribution center in Las Vegas, Nevada, has agreed to stop manufacturing and selling parts for diesel pickup trucks that, when installed, bypass, defeat or render inoperative EPA-approved emission controls and harm air quality, as part of an agreement to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations. The company will pay a $1,125,000 penalty, which was reduced due to XDP’s limited financial ability to pay a higher penalty.

The complaint, filed simultaneously with the settlement, alleges that the parts described above are “defeat devices” prohibited by the Clean Air Act. XDP manufactured and/or sold over 27,000 aftermarket defeat devices between January 2015 and May 2017. XDP suspended sales of the defeat devices in September 2019 in an effort to resolve this matter.

“Defeat devices do an end run around decades-old Clean Air Act emissions requirements that protect public health and the environment,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “As part of the Department of Justice’s national efforts to ensure that the aftermarket automotive parts industry complies with anti-pollution laws and focuses on legal products, this settlement ensures that XDP will eliminate defeat devices from its product line.”

“As a result of XDP’s actions, thousands of diesel pickup trucks now operate without filters, catalysts, and other essential emissions controls harming our nation’s air quality,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This action will stop the sale of these illegal products, preventing additional excess pollution caused by illegal aftermarket defeat devices and keeping the air we breathe clean.”

“Today’s settlement will prevent the future sale of approximately 11,000 illegal products per year,” said Acting Regional Administrator Deborah Jordan for the EPA Pacific Southwest. “The increased nitrogen oxides and particulate matter pollution stemming from defeat devices threatens the health of everyone, especially those with pre-existing health conditions, children, and older adults. EPA will continue to vigorously enforce the Clean Air Act’s defeat device prohibition to protect vulnerable communities located near highways that face a disproportionate amount of exposure from vehicle emissions.”

In addition to requiring XDP to pay a penalty of $1,125,000, the settlement requires XDP to destroy any violative products still in its inventory, cease providing technical support or honoring warranty claims for previously-sold violative products, revise its marketing materials, notify the customers that purchased the subject parts that the products at issue violate the Clean Air Act and conduct compliance training for its employees and contractors.

EPA estimates that the products XDP sold may result in more than 12 million pounds of excess nitrogen oxides emissions and 115,000 pounds of excess particulate matter emissions over the anticipated remaining life of the diesel pickup trucks equipped with those products. This enforcement action will prevent additional excess emissions that would have resulted from the continued sale of these illegal products.

Tampering with diesel-powered vehicles by installing defeat devices can cause large amounts of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions, both of which contribute to serious public health problems. These include premature death, aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, aggravation of existing asthma, acute respiratory symptoms, chronic bronchitis and decreased lung function. Numerous studies also link diesel exhaust to increased incidence of lung cancer. Respiratory issues disproportionately affect families, especially children, living in underserved communities overburdened by pollution. Stopping the sale and use of defeat devices will help reduce harmful air pollution that exacerbates the health effects of pollutant exposures. 

Stopping the manufacture, sale, and installation of defeat devices on vehicles and engines used on public roads as well as on nonroad vehicles and engines is a priority for EPA. To learn more, visit: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/national-compliance-initiative-stopping-aftermarket-defeat-devices-vehicles-and-engines.

The consent decree for this settlement was lodged in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and is subject to final court approval.

For more information on this settlement: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/xtreme-diesel-performance-llc-clean-air-act-settlement.

If you suspect someone is manufacturing, selling, or installing illegal defeat devices, or is tampering with emission controls, tell the EPA by writing to tampering@epa.gov.

The Department of Justice announced today that it reached a settlement with DC Precision Machining Inc., which manufactures parts for medical devices and is based in Morgan Hill, California.

The settlement resolves claims that the company discriminated against workers by requiring them to present specific work authorization documents depending on each worker’s citizenship status. The settlement also resolves a claim that the company rescinded a worker’s job offer when she refused to provide an additional document to prove she could work in the United States, even though she had already provided sufficient documentation. 

The department’s investigation began when a U.S. citizen filed a discrimination charge with the Civil Rights Division against DC Precision Machining. Based on its investigation, the department determined that the company rejected the worker’s unrestricted Social Security card to prove her work authorization, required her to provide an additional unnecessary document before she could start work and then withdrew her job offer when she was unwilling to comply with the company’s demand. The department’s investigation also found that the company routinely requested unnecessary and specific work authorization documents from all new employees, limiting each new hire’s choice of documents based on the worker’s citizenship status. In particular, U.S. citizens were required to show a U.S. Passport or birth certificate, while non-U.S. citizens were required to present an immigration document to prove their work authorization — even when the new hire had already given DC Precision Machining another acceptable document that showed they were authorized to work.

“Employers must give workers the opportunity to present any acceptable document when verifying that they are authorized to work in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division. “An employer that requires new employees to present particular documents based on their citizenship or immigration status has committed unlawful discrimination. The Justice Department looks forward to working with DC Precision Machining to ensure it meets its obligations to avoid employment discrimination in the future.”

Federal law allows all work-authorized individuals, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, to choose which valid, legally acceptable documentation to present to demonstrate their identity and authorization to work in the United States. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)'s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from requesting more or different documents than necessary or limiting employees’ choice of documents to prove work authorization based on the employees’ citizenship, immigration status or national origin.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, DC Precision Machining will pay a civil penalty of $13,400 to the United States and $21,360.55 to the affected worker. Additionally, DC Precision Machining will train its employees on the requirements of the INA’s anti-discrimination provision, including an IER-provided training and be subject to monitoring for a two-year period to ensure the company is complying with the agreement.  

The Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. The statute prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; and retaliation and intimidation.  

Learn more about IER’s work and how to get assistance through this brief video. Applicants or employees who believe they were discriminated against based on their citizenship, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, recruitment or during the employment eligibility verification process (Form I-9 and E-Verify); or subjected to retaliation, can file a charge. The public also can contact IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688; call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); email IER@usdoj.gov; sign up for a free webinar; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites. Subscribe to GovDelivery to receive updates from IER. View the Spanish translation of this press release here.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard A. Powers of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division issued the following statement today after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to withdraw from the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines, which had been issued jointly with, and remain in place at, the Department of Justice:

“The Department of Justice is conducting a careful review of the Horizontal Merger Guidelines and the Vertical Merger Guidelines to ensure they are appropriately skeptical of harmful mergers. Both documents are designed to provide increased transparency and guidance to the public on how the department makes law enforcement decisions. The department’s review has already identified several aspects of the guidelines that deserve close scrutiny, and we will work closely with the FTC to update them as appropriate.    

“The department continues to collaborate with the FTC on a robust public engagement process to seek comment on ways the Vertical Merger Guidelines could be improved. Public comment, which has not yet been sought on the substantial changes made to the published version of the Vertical Merger Guidelines, will be helpful in considering a range of questions, including the following areas that staff has identified warrant consideration:   

1. Whether the Vertical Merger Guidelines create confusion as to the merging parties’ burden to establish that the elimination of double marginalization is verifiable, merger specific and will likely be passed through to consumers. 
2. Whether the Vertical Merger Guidelines unduly emphasize the quantification of price effects, which is not the only means to determine that a vertical merger is unlawful.[1] 
3. Whether the Vertical Merger Guidelines appropriately account for the traditional burden shifting framework applied by U.S. courts in their review of mergers.[2] For example, some have suggested that descriptions of how the department may consider offsetting incentives in determining the net effect of a transaction suggests a deviation from the prevailing legal framework in which the department may establish in court a prima facie case based on evidence of harm alone.[3]
4. Whether the Vertical Merger Guidelines should more fully explain, as some have suggested would be appropriate, the range of circumstances that can lead to a concern that a merger may have anticompetitive effects.[4] 
5. Whether the Vertical Merger Guidelines would benefit from further elaboration of the circumstances in which mergers raise concerns of harm related to the evasion of regulation.

“The Justice Department recognizes the substantial benefit of providing transparency on these and all of the other issues touched on by the Vertical Merger Guidelines, and will work closely with the FTC as this process continues.”

[1] See United States v. AT&T, Inc., 916 F.3d 1029, 1045 (2019) (“Preliminarily, the court does not hold that quantitative evidence of price increase is required in order to prevail on a Section 7 challenge.  Vertical mergers can create harms beyond higher prices for consumers, including decreased product quality and reduced innovation.”)   

[2] See United States v. Baker Hughes, 908 F.2d 981, 982-83 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (cited in AT&T, 916 F.3d at 1032). 

[3] See Carl Shapiro, Vertical Mergers and Input Foreclosure Lessons from the AT&T/Time Warner Case, 59 Rev. of Indus. Org. 303 (2021) (noting risks associated with requiring quantification of net harm as part of the government’s prima facie case, and benefits of the sequencing in the Baker Hughes framework in the context of vertical mergers). 

[4] See Steven S. Salop, The 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines: A Suggested Revision, Geo. L. Fac. Publications & Other Works (2021), available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3839768. 

El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy que ha llegado a un acuerdo con DC Precision Machining, Inc., una compañía que fabrica partes para dispositivos médicos radicado en Morgan Hill, California. El acuerdo resuelve las acusaciones de que la compañía había discriminado a trabajadores al requerir, dependiendo del estatus de ciudadanía de cada trabajador, que presentasen documentos específicos de autorización para trabajar. Asimismo, el acuerdo resuelve una acusación de que la compañía había retirado una oferta de trabajo de una trabajadora cuando ella se había negado a presentar un documento adicional para demostrar que podía trabajar legalmente en los Estados Unidos, a pesar de haber ya presentado suficiente documentación.

La investigación del Departamento comenzó después de que una ciudadana de los EE. UU. presentó una demanda de discriminación contra DC Precision Machining ante la División de Derechos Civiles. Con base en su investigación, el Departamento determinó que la compañía había rechazado la tarjeta de seguro social sin restricciones de la trabajadora, la obligó a presentar un documento adicional innecesario antes de poder comenzar a trabajar y, posteriormente, retiró la oferta de trabajo cuando ella no estaba dispuesta a cumplir con la solicitud de la compañía. La investigación del Departamento también halló que la compañía, de forma rutinaria, pedía documentos de autorización para trabajar innecesarios y específicos de todo empleado nuevo y restringía la selección de documentos para cada empleado recién contratado según el estatus de ciudadanía del trabajador. En concreto, se requería que ciudadanos estadounidenses presentasen un pasaporte estadounidense o acta de nacimiento, mientras que a los no ciudadanos estadounidenses se les requería presentar un documento migratorio para demostrar su autorización para trabajar, incluso cuando la recién contratada empleada ya había entregado otro documento aceptable a DC Precision Machining que demostraba su autorización para trabajar.

«Los empleadores deben dar a los trabajadores la oportunidad de presentar cualquier documento aceptable que quieran a la hora de verificar que cuentan con la debida autorización para trabajar en los Estados Unidos. Un empleador que requiere que sus empleados nuevos presenten documentos particulares con base en su estatus migratorio o de ciudadanía ha cometido un acto ilegal de discriminación», afirmó Kristen Clarke, la Fiscal General Auxiliar de la División de Derechos Civiles. «El Departamento de Justicia está deseando trabajar con DC Precision Machining para garantizar que cumpla con sus obligaciones para evitar futuros incidentes de discriminación en el empleo».

Las leyes federales permiten a todo individuo con autorización para trabajar, independientemente de su estatus de ciudadanía, elegir los documentos válidos y legalmente aceptables que desea presentar para demostrar su autorización para trabajar en los Estados Unidos. La ley de Ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad («INA», por sus siglas en inglés) prohíbe que los empleadores pidan documentos adicionales o diferentes a los que sean necesarios o que restrinjan la selección de documentos que un empleado puede mostrar para probar que tiene autorización para trabajar, con base en el estatus migratorio o de ciudadanía del empleado o bien por su nacionalidad de origen.

Conforme los términos del acuerdo conciliatorio, DC Precision Machining pagará una sanción civil a los Estados Unidos que asciende a $13,400 y $21,360.55 al trabajador afectado. Asimismo, DC Precision Machining capacitará a sus empleados en cuanto a los requisitos de la disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA, incluyendo una capacitación dirigida por la Sección de Derechos de Inmigrantes y Empleados («IER», por sus siglas en inglés), y será supervisado durante un período de dos años para garantizar que la compañía esté cumpliendo con el acuerdo.  

La Sección de Derechos de Inmigrantes y Empleados de la División de Derechos Civiles es responsable de hacer cumplir la disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA. La ley prohíbe la discriminación por motivos de estatus de ciudadanía y nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido o reclutamiento o recomendación por comisión, prácticas documentales injustas y represalias e intimidación. 

Para aprender más sobre la labor de la IER y cómo conseguir ayuda, vea este vídeo corto. Aquellos aspirantes o empleados que creen haber sido discriminados por motivos de su estatus de ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido, reclutamiento o verificación de la elegibilidad para trabajar (Formulario I-9 e E-Verify) o sujetos a represalias pueden presentar una denuncia. El público también puede llamar a la línea directa de la IER para trabajadores al 1‑800-255-7688; llamar a la línea directa de la IER para empleadores al 1-800-255-8155 (1‑800‑237-2515, TTY para personas con discapacidades auditivas); enviar un correo electrónico a IER@usdoj.gov; inscribirse a un seminario en línea gratuito; o visitar los sitios web de la IER en inglés o español. Para recibir las últimas noticias de la IER, inscríbase a GovDelivery.

An Arkansas resident pleaded guilty today to filing a false corporate tax return.

According to court documents, Pedro Garcia owned and operated Garcia Lawn Care, a landscaping business located in Rogers, Arkansas. From 2014 through 2020, Garcia underreported the true gross receipts from his lawn care business. Garcia’s customers mainly paid Garcia by check for his services. Garcia cashed most of these checks, rather than depositing them into his business accounts. Garcia used the cash to pay himself, his workers and other expenses. In total, Garcia did not report over $1 million in gross receipts, causing a tax loss of $208,844.

Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison. Garcia also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes for the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Robert Kemins and Nicholas Schilling of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today issued a joint statement detailing antitrust guidance for businesses taking part in relief efforts and those involved in rebuilding communities affected by Hurricane Ida without violating the antitrust laws.

“The Antitrust Division and its law enforcement partners will not tolerate businesses and individuals who prey upon hurricane victims or seek to corrupt relief efforts,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard A. Powers of the Antitrust Division. “In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, the division’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force will leverage every tool in its arsenal to root out collusion, corruption and fraud targeting disaster relief.”

“When a disaster like Hurricane Ida strikes, it’s unconscionable for any company to exploit the tragedy for their own financial gain,” said Acting Director Holly Vedova of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “We’re committed to working with our partners to crack down on abusive and illegal practices and protecting the people affected by the disaster so they can focus on recovering.”

The antitrust laws accommodate procompetitive collaborations among competitors. At the same time, the agencies intend to hold accountable those who enter into anticompetitive agreements that take advantage of hurricane victims or hurricane relief efforts. Among other actions, the Department of Justice will criminally prosecute companies that fix prices, rig bids, or allocate customers, and the FTC will investigate and take action against companies and individuals who violate the consumer protection laws.

Anyone with information on price fixing, bid-rigging, market allocation agreements or other anticompetitive conduct should call the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit http://www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.

Consumers or businesses with concerns about fraudulent activity can also call the Disaster Fraud Hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or visit https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/how-report-disaster-related-fraud.

The Department of Justice announced today that it signed a settlement agreement with Challenger Sports Corporation (Challenger), a soccer instruction company based in Lenexa, Kansas, which runs soccer programs nationwide.  

The settlement resolves the department’s claim that Challenger did not consider U.S. worker applicants for full-time soccer instructor jobs in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Northern Virginia because the company preferred to hire workers on temporary visas.

Based on its independent investigation, the department concluded that in Spring 2019, Challenger’s Baltimore office (1) failed to consider U.S. worker applicants for full-time soccer instructor positions because staff assumed that U.S. workers, based on their citizenship status, would not be interested in the positions; and (2) expected to fill the positions with workers on seasonal employment visas known as H-2B visas. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), employers cannot generally discriminate based on citizenship, immigration status, or national origin at any stage of the hiring process. In addition, the Department of Labor requires employers seeking permission to hire H-2B workers to first hire all qualified and available U.S. workers who apply by the relevant deadline.   

“A company cannot decide to ignore applications from U.S. workers because of stereotypes about their willingness to do certain types of work, or a desire to reserve work opportunities for temporary visa holders,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Excluding U.S. workers from consideration for jobs because of their citizenship or immigration status is unfair and illegal.”

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Challenger will pay $6,000 in civil penalties and make $36,820 in back pay available to eligible discrimination victims. Challenger will also change its policies and procedures to comply with the INA’s anti-discrimination provision, train its employees on the requirements of this law before applying for H-2B visas in the future, and be subject to two years of department monitoring requirements, including providing regular reports to the department.

The Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. The statute prohibits, among other things, citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; retaliation and intimidation. Learn more about prohibitions against citizenship status discrimination.

Learn more about IER’s work and how to get assistance through this brief video. Applicants or employees who believe they were discriminated against based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing, recruitment, or during the employment eligibility verification process (Form I-9 and E-Verify), or subjected to retaliation, may file a charge. The public also can contact IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688; call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); email IER@usdoj.gov; sign up for a free webinar; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites. Subscribe to GovDelivery to receive updates from IER. View the Spanish translation of this press release here.

The Justice Department announced a settlement agreement with the Florida State Courts System to resolve a retaliation investigation and finding under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As part of the settlement, the Florida State Courts will implement anti-retaliation policies and training and pay $160,000 in damages to a former employee who experienced retaliation.

The settlement resolves the Justice Department’s finding that the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida retaliated against the former employee in violation of Title VI, which prohibits race, color or national origin discrimination by recipients of federal financial assistance and prohibits retaliation against individuals who engage in Title VI protected activity, such as filing a complaint or participating in an investigation. The department concluded that the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida unlawfully terminated the employee for assisting a limited English proficient (LEP) court user with an interpreter request and for assisting an advocate who filed a Justice Department Title VI complaint about language access services.   

“This settlement sends a message that those who speak up for fundamental civil rights — like the right of meaningful access to our judicial system — must be able to do so without fear of reprisal,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division will continue to vigorously investigate allegations of retaliation against individuals who courageously stand up to hold others accountable for compliance with the laws we enforce. I commend the Florida State Courts System for committing to address this unlawful retaliation and prevent its recurrence.”

The enforcement of Title VI is a top priority of the Civil Rights Division. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt, and information about limited English proficiency and Title VI is available at www.lep.gov. Members of the public may report possible civil rights violations at https://civilrights.justice.gov/report/. View the Spanish translation of this press release here.

The Justice Department announced today that it has opened a statewide civil investigation into conditions of confinement of prisoners held in Georgia’s prisons.

The investigation will examine whether Georgia provides prisoners reasonable protection from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners. The department also will continue its existing investigation into whether Georgia provides lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex prisoners reasonable protection from sexual abuse by other prisoners and by staff.

“Ensuring the inherent human dignity and worth of everyone, including people who are incarcerated inside our nation’s jails and prisons, is a top priority,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department’s investigations into prison conditions have been successful at identifying systemic constitutional violations and their causes, fixing those causes and  stopping the violations. We are investigating prison violence and abuse in Georgia’s prisons to determine whether Constitutional violations exist, and if so, how to stop them.”

“Individuals sentenced to prison in Georgia Department of Corrections facilities deserve to be treated humanely,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine for the Northern District of Georgia. “Our office is committed to ensuring state prisoners are safe while serving their sentences. We look forward to working cooperatively with the Georgia Department of Corrections to ensure the safety of all individuals in its prisons.”

“Prison conditions that enable inmates to engage in dangerous and even deadly activity are an injustice, jeopardizing the lives of detainees, staff members and other corrections personnel,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary for the Middle District of Georgia. “Our local law enforcement and corrections partners, with whom we work with closely each and every day, are indispensable to our united goal of achieving a safer Georgia for all. Under the leadership of the department’s Civil Rights Division, we look forward to collaborating with our state partners to address our mutual concern for safety in the corrections system.”

“This investigation is an example of our office’s commitment to stamping out violence in our district, no matter where it is found, no matter who the victim is,” said Acting U.S. Attorney David H. Estes for the Southern District of Georgia. “We look forward to working with the State of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Corrections, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, and our counterparts in the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia to further our shared mission to keep correctional facilities safe for the sake of our community, the prisoners housed there and the dedicated staff who work there.”

The department has not reached any conclusions regarding the allegations in this matter. The investigation will be conducted under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA). Under CRIPA, the department has the authority to investigate whether any violations of prisoners’ constitutional rights result from a “pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of such rights.” The department has conducted CRIPA investigations of many correctional systems, and where violations have been found, the resulting settlement agreements have led to important reforms.

The Special Litigation Section of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is conducting this investigation jointly with the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Georgia. Individuals with relevant information are encouraged to contact the department via phone at (844) 401-3736 or by email at Community.GeorgiaDOC@usdoj.gov.

Additional information about the Civil Rights Division’s CRIPA investigations related to prisons and jails can be found here:  https://www.justice.gov/crt/rights-persons-confined-jails-and-prisons.

N.B.: Este comunicado de prensa ha sido traducido al español. Para visualizarlo en inglés, véase el anexo a continuación.

WASHINGTON – El Departamento de Justicia anunció un acuerdo conciliatorio con el sistema de tribunales estatales de Florida que resuelve una investigación y un hallazgo de represalias en virtud del Título VI de la ley de Derechos Civiles de 1964. Como parte del acuerdo, los tribunales estatales de Florida implementarán políticas y capacitación contra represalias y pagarán 160.000 $ por concepto de daños y perjuicios a un exempleado que fue víctima de represalias.

El acuerdo conciliatorio resuelve el hallazgo del Departamento de Justicia que el Séptimo Tribunal de Circuito Judicial de Florida tomó represalias contra el exempleado, en contra del Título VI, que prohíbe la discriminación por motivos de raza, color de piel o nacionalidad de origen por parte de beneficiarios de apoyo financiero federal y prohíbe las represalias contra individuos que participan en una actividad protegida al amparo del Título VI, tal como presentar una querella o participar en una investigación. El Departamento concluyó que, de manera ilegal, el Séptimo Tribunal de Circuito Judicial de Florida despidió al empleado por ayudar a un usuario del tribunal cuyo dominio del inglés era limitado (LEP, por sus siglas en inglés) y por ayudar a un defensor que presentó una querella ante el Departamento de Justicia al amparo del Título VI en relación con servicios de acceso lingüístico.

«Este acuerdo conciliatorio transmite un mensaje que aquellos que defienden los derechos civiles fundamentales, tales como el derecho al acceso significativo a nuestro sistema judicial, deben tener la posibilidad de hacerlo sin miedo de represalias», declaró Kristen Clarke, la Fiscal General Auxiliar de la División de Derechos Civiles. «La División de Derechos Civiles seguirá investigando a fondo los alegatos de represalias contra personas que, con valentía, hacen frente a otros para hacerlos responsables de cumplir con las leyes que nosotros ejecutamos. Yo felicito al sistema de tribunales estatales de Florida por comprometerse a encargarse de estas represalias ilegales y a evitar su reaparición».

La ejecución del Título VI representa una de las prioridades principales de la División de Derechos Civiles. Para más información sobre la División de Derechos Civiles, vaya a su sitio web en www.justice.gov/crt-espanol y para más información sobre el dominio limitado del inglés y el Título VI, vaya a www.lep.gov. Miembros del público también pueden informar de posibles vulneraciones de derechos civiles en https://civilrights.justice.gov/report/.  

• El comunicado de prensa en inglés
• El acuerdo
• La carta de hallazgos

WASHINGTON, D.C. – El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy que ha firmado un acuerdo conciliatorio con Challenger Sports Corporation (Challenger), una compañía de enseñanza de fútbol que administra programas de fútbol por todo el país, radicada en Lenexa, Kansas.

El acuerdo resuelve la acusación del Departamento de que Challenger no consideró a postulantes que eran trabajadores en este país para puestos a tiempo completo de enseñanza de fútbol en Pennsylvania, Maryland y la zona norte de Virginia porque la compañía prefirió contratar a trabajadores con visas temporales.

Con base en su investigación independiente, el Departamento concluyó que en la primavera del 2019, la oficina de Challenger en Baltimore (1) no consideró a postulantes en este país para puestos a tiempo completo para enseñar fútbol porque Challenger supuso que, por motivos de su estatus de ciudadanía, trabajadores en este país no estarían interesados en los puestos; y (2) tenía previsto llenar las vacantes con trabajadores con visas estacionales que se conocen como visas H-2B. Conforme la ley de Inmigración y Nacionalidad («INA», por sus siglas en inglés), los empleadores no pueden, por norma general, discriminar a trabajadores por motivos de su ciudadanía, estatus migratorio u origin nacional en ningún momento durante el proceso de contratación. Asimismo, el Departamento de Trabajo requiere que cualquier empleador que pida permiso para contratar a trabajadores H-2B contrate primero a todos los trabajadores cualificados y disponibles en este país que soliciten un puesto antes de la fecha límite relevante.  

«Una compañía no puede decidir que va a ignorar solicitudes de trabajadores en este país debido a estereotipos sobre su disponibilidad para hacer ciertos tipos de trabajo o su deseo de reservar oportunidades laborales para personas con visas temporales», afirmó Kristen Clarke, la Fiscal Federal Auxiliar de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia. «Es injusto e ilegal negarse a considerar a trabajadores en este país para un puesto debido a su ciudadanía o estatus migratorio».

Conforme los términos del acuerdo conciliatorio, Challenger pagará $6.000 por concepto de sanciones civiles y creará un fondo para pagos retroactivos que asciende a $36.820 que pondrá a la disponibilidad de víctimas de discriminación elegibles. Por otra parte, Challenger cambiará sus políticas y procedimientos para que cumplen con la disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA, capacitará a sus empleados en cuanto a los requisitos de esta ley antes de solicitar visas H-2B en el futuro y se someterá a los requisitos de supervisión del Departamento durante dos años, lo que incluye la entrega de informes rutinarias al Departamento.

La Sección de Derechos de Inmigrantes y Empleados («IER», por sus siglas en inglés) de la División de Derechos Civiles es responsable de hacer cumplir la disposición antidiscriminatoria de la INA. La ley prohíbe la discriminación con base en el de estatus de ciudadanía y nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido o reclutamiento o recomendación por comisión, prácticas documentales injustas y represalias e intimidación. Aprenda más sobre las prohibiciones contra la discriminación por motivos de estatus de ciudadanía.

Aquellos aspirantes o empleados que creen haber sido discriminados por motivos de su estatus migratorio, ciudadanía o nacionalidad de origen en los procesos de contratación, despido, reclutamiento o verificación de la elegibilidad para trabajar (Formulario I-9 e E-Verify) o sujetos a represalias pueden presentar una denuncia. El público también puede llamar a la línea directa de la IER para trabajadores al 1-800-255-7688; llamar a la línea directa de la IER para empleadores al 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY para personas con discapacidades auditivas); enviar un correo electrónico a IER@usdoj.gov; inscribirse a un seminario en línea gratuito; o visitar los sitios web de la IER en inglés o español. Para recibir las últimas noticias de la IER, inscríbase a GovDelivery.

The Department of Justice today announced written department-wide policies explicitly prohibiting the use of “chokeholds” and  “carotid restraints” unless deadly force is authorized, and limiting the circumstances in which the department’s federal law enforcement components are authorized to use unannounced entries. The announcement follows a review with the department’s law enforcement agencies led by Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco.  

“Building trust and confidence between law enforcement and the public we serve is central to our mission at the Justice Department,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The limitations implemented today on the use of ‘chokeholds,’ ‘carotid restraints’ and ‘no-knock’ warrants, combined with our recent expansion of body-worn cameras to DOJ’s federal agents, are among the important steps the department is taking to improve law enforcement safety and accountability.”

“As members of federal law enforcement, we have a shared obligation to lead by example in a way that engenders the trust and confidence of the communities we serve,” said Deputy Attorney General Monaco. “It is essential that law enforcement across the Department of Justice adhere to a single set of standards when it comes to ‘chokeholds,’ ‘carotid restraints’ and ‘no-knock’ entries. This new policy does just that and limits the circumstances in which these techniques can be used.”

Under the new policy, the department’s law enforcement components will be prohibited from using “chokeholds” and “carotid restraints” unless deadly force is authorized, that is “when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”   

Federal agents are generally required to “knock and announce” their identity, authority and purpose, and demand to enter before entry is made to execute a warrant in a private dwelling. However, there are some circumstances where unannounced entries are authorized. The new policy generally limits the use of “no knock” entries in connection with the execution of a warrant to situations where an agent has reasonable grounds to believe that knocking and announcing the agent’s presence would create an imminent threat of physical violence to the agent and/or another person. This new policy is narrower than what is permitted by law. In setting the policy this way, the department is limiting the use of higher-risk “no knock” entries to only those instances where physical safety is at stake. If an agent suspects a threat to physical safety and seeks a “no knock” warrant, the agent must first get supervisory approval from both a federal prosecutor as well as the agent’s law enforcement component.

The policy does recognize, however, that there may be rare circumstances when there is justification – other than physical safety – to execute a “no knock” entry.  If an exception is sought when there is no imminent threat of physical safety, the agent must first get approval from the head of the law enforcement component and the U.S. Attorney or relevant Assistant Attorney General before seeking judicial authorization for a “no knock” warrant.

For more information, see the Deputy Attorney General’s guidance to the Justice Department’s law enforcement components: https://www.justice.gov/dag/page/file/1432531/download

Today’s announcement expands on the department’s efforts to examine the way Justice Department law enforcement components engage with individuals who come into contact with the criminal justice system.  See the Deputy Attorney General’s June 7, 2021, memo regarding Body Worn Cameras for the Justice Department’s federal law enforcement agents as well as the Sept. 1, 2021, announcement of the first Justice Department agents to implement BWCs:  and https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-first-federal-agents-use-body-worn-cameras.

Formosa Plastics Corporation, Texas, has agreed to pay $2.85 million in civil penalties and to improve its risk management program to resolve alleged violations of the Chemical Accident Prevention Provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at its petrochemical manufacturing plant in Point Comfort, Texas.

In the complaint, filed today with the proposed consent decree, the United States alleges 20 violations of the CAA. Formosa’s Point Comfort plant is subject to Section 112(r) of the CAA regulations, known as the Risk Management Program, which are designed to prevent the accidental release of hazardous substances.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s investigation of Formosa was spurred by a series of fires, explosions and accidental releases at the Point Comfort plant spanning from May 2013 through October 2016. These accidents caused injuries to workers, including second- and third-degree burns and chlorine inhalation requiring hospitalization, as well as property damage and the release of extremely hazardous substances to the environment.

“Formosa repeatedly failed to comply with the chemical accident prevention provisions of the Clean Air Act at the Point Comfort plant, repeatedly placing their workers, neighbors and the environment in danger,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This settlement will ensure Formosa’s compliance with essential regulations intended to protect workers and the community as well as help prevent dangerous chemical releases from occurring in the future.”

“This case demonstrates the importance of adopting and executing adequate chemical safety procedures to protect the safety of workers, the community and the environment,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Lowery for the Southern District of Texas.

“Formosa’s failure to implement safe work practices and failure to design and maintain a safe facility put public health and the environment at risk,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Today’s settlement requires Formosa to achieve compliance with its environmental obligations now and in the future, protecting air quality and the community of Point Comfort.”

Formosa will be required to update its response and personal protection plans to prevent employee injury, conduct a third-party audit of its risk management practices, perform corrective actions based on audit results and develop key performance indicators to evaluate future compliance. In addition, the company agreed to conduct a service compatibility evaluation to identify incompatible equipment and implement a mechanical integrity reporting program.

The cost of the injunctive relief is estimated to be at least $1.4 million and will greatly improve the safe management of hazardous substances at the facility.

Congress added section 112(r) to the CAA in response to a 1984 catastrophic release of methyl isocyanate in Bhopal, India, that killed more than 3,400 people and caused over 200,000 others to suffer injuries. Under the CAA, facilities like Formosa’s are required to identify hazards, design and maintain a safe facility, minimize the consequences of accidental releases that do occur and comply with regulatory prevention measures. Failing to comply with these requirements increases the risk of accidents and threatens surrounding communities.

Reducing the risk to human health and the environment by decreasing the likelihood of chemical accidents at chemical facilities is a top priority for EPA’s enforcement and compliance assurance program.

The proposed consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court review and approval. A copy of the consent decree is available on the Department of Justice website at www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html. 

Emily Claire Hari, 50, f/k/a Michael Hari, was sentenced to life in prison for the Aug. 5, 2017, bombing of the Dar al-Farooq (DAF) Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota.

On Dec. 9, 2020, following a five-week trial, Hari was convicted by a federal jury on all five counts of the indictment, including intentionally defacing, damaging and destroying religious property because of the religious character of that property; intentionally obstructing and attempting to obstruct, by force and the threat of force, the free exercise of religious beliefs; conspiracy to commit federal felonies by means of fire and explosives; carrying and using a destructive device during and in relation to crimes of violence; and possession of an unregistered destructive device.

In handing down the sentence, United States District Judge Donovan W. Frank described the attack orchestrated by Hari as a highly sophisticated and premeditated act of domestic terrorism.

“Hari sought to terrorize an entire faith community.  Today’s sentence makes clear that such acts of hate-fueled terror will not be tolerated,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “The Dar al-Farooq community has shown powerful strength and resolve during this case.  As demonstrated by this verdict and sentence against Hari, the Justice Department will prosecute hate crimes to the full extent of the law, including those that target places of worship and other religious sites.” 

“Today, the person responsible for the 2017 bombing of the Dar al-Farooq mosque has been sentenced to 53 years in prison,” said Acting U.S. Attorney W. Anders Folk for the District of Minnesota. “Through our system of justice, the Minnesota community has collectively condemned this hate-fueled attack and decisively upheld every individual’s constitutional right to live and worship free from violence and intimidation. As we mark the closing of a painful chapter, it is my hope that the members of Dar al-Farooq and the broader faith community impacted by this attack will continue to heal and regain a sense of safety and security.”

“Acts of violence, motivated by hatred toward individuals simply based on their faith, will not be tolerated by the FBI or our Minnesota law enforcement partners,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael Paul of the FBI's Minneapolis Field Office. “Violent criminals such as those responsible for this cowardly act, will be held accountable for their hate crimes and disgraceful attempts at intimidation. This sentence demonstrates our continued commitment to the FBI’s core mission – to defend all communities and to protect the rights of all Americans.”

As proven at trial, during the summer of 2017, Hari established a terrorist militia group called “The White Rabbits” in Clarence, Illinois. Hari recruited co-defendants Michael McWhorter and Joe Morris to join the militia, which Hari outfitted with paramilitary equipment and assault rifles. On Aug. 4 and 5, 2017, Hari, McWhorter and Morris drove in a rented pickup truck from Illinois to Bloomington, Minnesota, to bomb the DAF Islamic Center. Hari targeted DAF specifically to terrorize Muslims into believing they are not welcome in the United States and should leave the country.

As proven at trial, Hari, McWhorter, and Morris arrived at DAF on Aug. 5, 2017, at approximately 5:00 a.m. At Hari’s direction, Morris used a sledgehammer to break the window of the Imam’s office at DAF and threw a plastic container with a mixture of diesel fuel and gasoline into the office. Then, also at Hari’s direction, McWhorter lit the fuse on a 20-pound black powder pipe bomb and threw it through the broken window. McWhorter and Morris ran back to the truck where Hari was waiting in the driver’s seat. The three men sped away from the building and drove back to Illinois. When the pipe bomb exploded, the blast caused extensive damage to the Imam’s office. It also ignited the gasoline and diesel mixture, causing extensive fire and smoke damage. At the time of the bombing, several worshipers were gathered in the mosque for morning prayers.

On Jan. 24, 2019, McWhorter and Morris pleaded guilty to their roles in the bombing. Their sentencing hearings are yet to be scheduled.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI’s Minneapolis and Springfield Divisions with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Bloomington Police Department and the Bloomington Fire Department.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Allison Ethen and Trial Attorney Timothy Visser of the Civil Rights Division.

Today, at the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual meeting, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the results of Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta’s review of the use of monitors in civil settlement agreements and consent decrees with state and local governmental entities. In a memo to the Attorney General, the Associate recommended 19 separate actions that the department should take to improve its use of monitors in these cases. The Attorney General has accepted the Associate’s recommendations and ordered them to be made effective immediately.   

“The department has found that – while consent decrees and monitorships are important tools to increase transparency and accountability – the department can and should do more to improve their efficiency and efficacy,” said Attorney General Garland. “The Associate Attorney General has recommended – and I have accepted – a set of 19 actions that the department will take to address those concerns.” 

“Consent decrees have proven to be vital tools in upholding the rule of law and promoting transformational change in the state and local governmental entities where they are used,” said Associate Attorney General Gupta. “The department must do everything it can to guarantee that they remain so by working to ensure that the monitors who help implement these decrees do so efficiently, consistently and with meaningful input and participation from the communities they serve.” 

The 19 actions in the memo will ensure that any future monitorships of state and local governmental meet five principals outlined in Associate Attorney General Gupta’s memo:

• Monitorships should be designed to minimize cost to jurisdictions and avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.
• Monitors must be accountable to the court, the parties and the public.
• Monitors should assess compliance consistently across jurisdictions.
• Sustained, meaningful engagement with the community is critical to the success of the monitorship.
• Monitoring must be structured to efficiently move jurisdictions into compliance.

The steps the department will take going forward in all monitor agreements to ensure that these principles are met include:

• Budget Caps: Future consent decrees will include an annual cap on monitors’ fees to increase transparency and help contain costs.
• No Double Dipping: To dispel any perception that monitoring is a cottage industry, lead monitors in future consent decrees will no longer be able to serve on more than one monitoring team at a time.
• Monitors Should Prioritize Stakeholder Input: To ensure that monitors selected are able to understand of a variety of interests and perspectives of the stakeholders in the process, including impacted communities, law enforcement and victims of official misconduct.
• Term Limits: To ensure that monitors are being held accountable, consent decrees will impose specific terms for monitors that can only be renewed after a process of judicial evaluation and reappointment.
• Effective Practices Guide, Assessment Tools and Training Materials: To ensure that monitorships are being conducted consistently across jurisdictions, the department will convene a group of stakeholders to create a set of effective practices for monitors, training programs for new monitors and judges overseeing monitorships and assessment tools for monitors to use to evaluate jurisdictions.
• Termination Hearing After No More than Five Years: To ensure that monitorships are designed to incentivize monitors and jurisdictions to move towards compliance as efficiently as possible, future consent decrees will require a hearing after five years so that jurisdictions can demonstrate the progress it has made, and if possible, to move for termination. To the extent that full compliance has not yet been reached by five years, the hearing will be used to solidify the plan for getting over the finish line in short order.

Associate Attorney General Gupta and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Civil Rights Division will convene a group of stakeholders within the next 90 days to begin working on the set of monitorship training materials and tools outlined in the memo.

On Sept. 8-9, 2021, U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco met remotely with G7 and EU Security Ministers, along with the Secretary General of INTERPOL, to discuss responding to the rapidly evolving events in Afghanistan, as well as countering racially and ethnically motivated extremism. They were joined by Deputy Secretary John Tien of the Department of Homeland Security, who attended the London meeting in person. The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security joined in a series of G7 ministerial commitments on emerging security risks and transnational crime issues. The Ministers committed to work together on:

• Countering violent extremism and terrorism;
• Addressing criminal conduct on the internet;
• Ensuring economic security is not undermined by the threat of serious and organized crime;
• Supporting global action to confront emerging issues affecting national and border security; and
• Strengthening international action against corruption and kleptocracies.

Learn more at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/g7-interior-and-security-ministers-meeting-september-2021

An Oklahoma man was sentenced today in the Northern District of Oklahoma to four years in prison for managing a group of money launderers in an online Nigerian romance scam that defrauded multiple victims, including elderly individuals across the United States, and caused losses of at least $2.5 million. 

Afeez Adebara, 36, of Norman, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering on Nov. 3, 2020. According to court documents and testimony, between 2017 and November 2019, Adebara and co-conspirators knowingly concealed the proceeds of a romance scam operation by moving money between and among multiple bank accounts that were opened under various aliases using fake passports and other fraudulent identification documents to obscure the source of the funds and the identities of the co-conspirators. Thereafter, Adebara took further steps to conceal the source of the funds, took a commission for himself, and directed the remainder of the funds back to the online romance scammers in Nigeria, including in the form of vehicles and vehicle parts.   

Adebara coordinated with overseas co-conspirators who had assumed false identities on online dating websites and social media platforms to defraud victims. Adebara opened multiple accounts using fraudulent identities, then provided the account and routing numbers to the overseas co-conspirators. The overseas co-conspirators told victims that they were U.S. residents working or traveling abroad. As the online relationships continued, the overseas co-conspirators requested increasingly larger sums of money, with the claimed purpose that the funds were needed to complete business projects or for them to return to the United States. The victims were directed by the overseas co-conspirators to send funds to certain bank accounts, with assurance that the money would purportedly be allocated as needed.

Previously, John Ogundele, 32, of New York, New York, was sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment; Paul Usoro, 25, a Nigerian citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States residing in Norman, was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, six of which were to be served in home confinement; Joshua Ditep, 26, a Nigerian citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States residing in Norman, was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment; Tobiloba Kehinde, 29, a Nigerian citizen residing in Norman, was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment, four of which were to be served in home confinement; and Chibuzo Obiefuna, 28, of Long Beach, California, and Jamiu Adedeji, 25, a Nigerian citizen residing in Norman, were each sentenced to time served.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Clinton J. Johnson for the Northern District of Oklahoma, and Special Agent in Charge Melissa Godbold of the FBI-Oklahoma City Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI’s Oklahoma City Field Office conducted the investigation with assistance from the FBI’s San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York Field Offices. 

Trial Attorneys Babasijibomi Moore of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Nassar of the Northern District of Oklahoma prosecuted the case.

This case is part of an ongoing national effort by the Department of Justice to address online fraud schemes, including those based out of Nigeria, that target U.S. citizens and residents.  The public is encouraged to report potential online fraud activity or scams to the FBI at https://www.ic3.gov/. 

A Maine man was sentenced today to three years in prison, along with three years of supervised release and restitution, for his role in committing and conspiring to commit a federal hate crime, the Justice Department announced.

Dusty Leo, 30, of Biddeford, Maine, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit a hate crime and of actually committing a hate crime on Feb. 25, 2020.

Following a three-day trial in March 2020, a jury convicted Leo’s co-conspirator and uncle, Maurice Diggins, of conspiring to commit and committing a series of racially motivated assaults against Black men in Maine. For his convictions, Diggins was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.   

“The defendant violently attacked a Black man for no reason other than his race,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This sentencing marks the final chapter in the long road to justice for the victims of these violent, racially-motivated crimes. The Department of Justice will continue to use the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and every tool at our disposal, to vindicate the rights of victims of hate crimes, and will continue to investigate and prosecute these acts wherever they occur.”

“The crimes committed by Mr. Leo and his co-conspirator injured and traumatized their victims, and also traumatized the communities in which they occurred,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Donald E. Clark for the District of Maine. “No one should be targeted for violence because of the color of their skin or their ethnicity. Crimes like this tear at the very fabric of our society. This prosecution makes clear that individuals who commit hate-motivated crimes will be made to pay for their actions. I am proud of the investigators and prosecutors who tirelessly pursued this case, and so appreciative of the victims, who courageously confronted Mr. Leo's co-defendant at trial.”

“Today’s sentence should make it crystal clear that those who traffic in hate, targeting people in our community because of their skin color, will be held accountable for their horrific, violent crimes,” said Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta of the FBI Boston Field Office. “No one should be afraid to walk down the street and be targeted by an act of violence based on how they look, where they are from, or any part of their identity. The FBI would like to thank the brave victims in this case for their courage in coming forward to ensure that Dusty Leo, and his uncle did not escape justice, and we’d like to encourage other victims of hate crimes to do the same. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their community, and everyone deserves a voice.”

According to Leo’s guilty plea and evidence presented at Diggins’s trial, on April 15, 2018, Diggins attacked a Sudanese man without provocation outside of a bar in Portland, Maine. The assault, which broke the victim’s jaw, was immediately followed by an attack on another Black man who was standing on the street nearby.

In a second incident, which occurred approximately an hour later and approximately 20 miles away in Biddeford, co-conspirators Diggins and Leo drove in Leo’s truck into a parking lot of a convenience store, where Diggins got out of the truck and approached a Black man who was walking toward the store’s entrance. Diggins directed a racial slur at the man and distracted him while Leo got out of the truck and sucker-punched the victim in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. The unprovoked attack broke the victim’s jaw in several places.  

Leo was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen. The Biddeford Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheila Sawyer and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Tim Visser.

A federal court in the Southern District of Florida has permanently enjoined a West Palm Beach tax return preparer from preparing federal income tax returns for others and from owning, operating, managing, assisting or working at any tax return preparation business in the future.

According to the court’s order, defendant Nate E. Dameus stipulated to entry of the injunction. The terms of the order require Dameus to send notice of the injunction to each person for whom he prepared federal tax returns, other tax forms, or claims for refund after Jan. 1, 2018, and to advertise the injunction on social media for one year. The order permits the United States to conduct full post-judgment discovery to monitor compliance.

The complaint filed by the United States alleged that Dameus employed fraudulent practices in preparing customer returns that understated the tax his customers owed and/or overstated the refund to which they were entitled. For example, the complaint alleged that he prepared returns with fabricated tax withholding and that he included claims for bogus unreimbursed employee business expenses like car mileage, tools, cell phone services and meals. In addition, the complaint alleged that Dameus routinely falsified home improvement expenses on his customers’ returns to claim residential energy credits his customers were not entitled to receive. According to the complaint, Dameus’s fraudulent activities resulted in substantial losses to the Treasury. 

Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. (More information can also be found here.) The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer, has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers and offers information on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers, whose refusal to sign a return should be a red flag to taxpayers. The IRS also has a list of important reminders for taxpayers who are about to file their 2020 tax returns, including how to prepare for a smooth filing process.

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details

A three-count criminal indictment was unsealed yesterday in federal court in the Eastern District of New York charging Roberto Gustavo Cortes Ripalda, 54, of Madrid, Spain; Fernando Haberer Bergson, 48, of Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Ernesto Heraclito Weisson Pazmino, 53, of Miami, Florida, with conspiring to defraud investors and financial institutions as part of an international fraud scheme stretching through the United States, South America, and Europe. The defendants are each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Federal agents arrested Weisson in Miami yesterday. Cortes and Haberer were also arrested yesterday in Spain and Argentina, respectively. 

According to the indictment, Cortes and Weisson founded Biscayne Capital, a financial services company, in 2005. Between approximately 2013 and 2018, Cortes, Haberer, and Weisson, together with others, orchestrated a scheme to defraud Biscayne Capital clients and financial institutions through a series of material misrepresentations and omissions about, among other things, how Biscayne Capital client funds would be used. The defendants and their co-conspirators used the funds they fraudulently obtained from clients and financial institutions to pay other investors, cover Biscayne Capital expenses, and pay themselves millions of dollars. 

The indictment further alleges the defendants and their co-conspirators falsely told some Biscayne Capital clients that the clients’ investments in certain private investment products (referred to in the indictment as “Proprietary Products”) would be used to finance the development of real estate projects, when in fact, the defendants and their co-conspirators used the clients’ investments to pay other Biscayne Capital clients. The indictment also alleges the defendants and their co-conspirators invested certain clients’ money in Proprietary Products without those clients’ knowledge, and then provided those clients with fraudulent account statements that showed fake investments. The defendants and others also conspired to fraudulently induce financial institutions to extend short-term credit to help further the scheme. Haberer then generated fake letters of authorization to repay the banks out of Biscayne Capital clients’ accounts without those clients’ authorization. 

By September 2018, the alleged scheme collapsed, and Biscayne Capital went into liquidation, causing more than $155 million in losses to Biscayne Capital clients.

Weisson had an initial court appearance yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Chris M. McAliley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. If convicted of all counts, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of 70 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis of the Eastern District of New York; Acting Special Agent in Charge Darrell J. Waldon of the IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Washington Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Joleen D. Simpson of the IRS-CI Boston Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Raymond Villanueva of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington Field Office made the announcement.

The IRS-CI Global Illicit Financial Team and HSI are investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Randall Warden and Shaunik R. Panse of the Justice Department’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS); Trial Attorney John (Fritz) Scanlon of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section; and Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Gopstein and Benjamin Weintraub of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York are prosecuting the case.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in this case.

MLARS’s Bank Integrity Unit investigates and prosecutes banks and other financial institutions, including their officers, managers, and employees, whose actions threaten the integrity of the individual institution or the wider financial system.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Arbor Hills Energy LLC (AHE) has agreed to significantly reduce, if not virtually eliminate, AHE’s sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions at its landfill gas-to-energy facility (Facility) in Northville, Michigan, to resolve alleged Clean Air Act and State law violations.

In a complaint filed simultaneously with the consent decree, the United States and the State of Michigan allege several Clean Air Act and State law violations, including exceedances of the Facility’s permitted SO2 emissions limits. This pollutant causes harm to human health and the environment once emitted into the air, including premature death, heart attacks, respiratory problems and adverse environmental effects.

“This settlement benefits public health and the environment by delivering deep cuts in SO2 emissions from the AHE Facility,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to enforce the Clean Air Act vigorously in cooperation with our state partners.”

“The health of the citizens of the State of Michigan is a top priority of this office,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Saima S. Mohsin. “Successful efforts such as this protect and preserve the environment for current and future generations and demonstrate our ongoing dedication to that goal.”

“Illegal air pollution from landfill gas power plants can harm people’s health and the environment,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This settlement is an example of how EPA is working to protect our communities by ensuring that landfill gas is handled in compliance with Clean Air Act requirements.”

“This settlement makes important progress in improving air quality near the AHE Facility,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. “My office is also addressing air pollution from the adjacent landfill in the case I filed on behalf of Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) in 2020 against the landfill owner. Combined, when completed, this work will dramatically improve the impact both facilities have had on the surrounding communities.”

“This agreement better protects nearby residents and the region’s air quality and is a good example of working with our partners to ensure environmental compliance and emissions reductions,” said Director Liesl Clark of EGLE.

The AHE Facility converts landfill gas (LFG), which is generated by decomposition of waste from an adjacent landfill, into electricity by burning it as fuel in four gas turbines. Under the settlement, by March 2023 AHE will either construct a renewable natural gas facility that converts LFG into pipeline quality natural gas and would virtually eliminate SO2 emissions, or install a sulfur treatment system that achieves a 64 percent reduction in SO2 emissions. Either pathway will bring AHE into compliance with the Clean Air Act and mitigate past excess SO2 emissions from the AHE Facility.  

Based on an evaluation of the company’s limited ability to pay, AHE also will pay a civil penalty of $750,000, split equally between the United States and the State of Michigan. The proposed decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, resolves EPA’s and Michigan’s Clean Air Act and State law claims against AHE. The settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval. It will be available for viewing at www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.

Information about EPA Region 5's air enforcement program is at http://www.epa.gov/region5/air/enforce/index.html.

Potential environmental violations may be reported at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/complaints.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced today that the Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to prevent the State of Texas from enforcing Senate Bill 8 (SB8), which went into effect on Sept. 1 and effectively bans most abortions in the state. The complaint seeks a declaratory judgment that SB8 is invalid under the Supremacy Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment, is preempted by federal law, and violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity. The United States also seeks an order, preliminarily and permanently, enjoining the State of Texas, including its officers, employees and agents, including private parties who would bring suit under the law, from implementing or enforcing SB8. 

“The Act is clearly unconstitutional under longstanding Supreme Court precedent,” said Attorney General Garland. “The United States has the authority and responsibility to ensure that no state can deprive individuals of their constitutional rights through a legislative scheme specifically designed to prevent the vindication of those rights.” 

According to the complaint, Texas enacted SB8 in open defiance of the Constitution by banning abortion at approximately six weeks in nearly all cases. The law violates individuals’ rights to have an abortion procedure prior to viability, which is usually around 24 weeks. Additionally, the law contains no exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape, sexual abuse, incest or for pregnancies involving a fetal defect incompatible with life after birth.

The prohibitions in SB8 apply to anyone who performs or induces a prohibited abortion, anyone who “knowingly” “aids or abets” the performance or inducement of a prohibited abortion, and even anyone who “intends” to perform or aid a prohibited abortion. Additionally, instead of relying on the state’s executive branch to enforce the law, as is the norm in Texas and elsewhere, the state has deputized ordinary citizens to serve as bounty hunters, statutorily authorized to recover at least $10,000 per claim from individuals who facilitate a woman’s exercise of her own constitutional rights. The complaint challenges that this unprecedented scheme is designed to evade judicial review.

Former Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox and his former business partner Paige Carter-Smith were sentenced today in the Northern District of Florida to five years and two years in prison, respectively, for their roles in a multi-year scheme to use Maddox’s power as a sitting City Commissioner to extract bribes from Tallahassee companies with business in front of the City Commission. Maddox and Carter-Smith were also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $76,763 and $115,619, respectively, and ordered to pay a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $70,000.

In December 2018, a federal grand jury charged then-City Commissioner Maddox and Carter-Smith in a 44-count indictment for conspiring to operate a racketeering enterprise that engaged in acts of bank fraud, extortion, honest-services fraud, and bribery. That indictment also charged Maddox and Carter-Smith with bank fraud, making false statements to financial institutions, extortion, honest-services fraud, use of interstate facilities to facilitate bribery, making false statements to federal officers, conspiracy to interfere with the lawful function of the IRS, and filing false tax returns. In May 2019, a federal grand jury returned a 47-count superseding indictment adding a third defendant, John Thomas Burnette, and charging him with participating in the racketeering conspiracy and extortion, honest services mail fraud, the use of facilities in interstate commerce to facilitate bribery, and making false statements to federal officers.

Maddox and Carter-Smith each subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of honest-services fraud and one count of conspiring to interfere with the lawful function of the IRS. According to court documents, while serving as a sitting, voting City Commissioner, Maddox received payments from Governance, a government consulting and lobbying company based in Tallahassee that he started in 1999 and sold to Carter-Smith in 2010. The payments were made to Governance by several companies in either monthly installments or lump sums, which companies sought favorable votes on City of Tallahassee issues. Specifically, the defendants pleaded guilty to Maddox’s acceptance and Carter-Smith’s facilitation of payments from a rideshare company in exchange for favorable treatment on issues it had before the City Commission, and payments from another company in exchange for his favorable treatment on issues that were anticipated before the Commission. The defendants also admitted to tax fraud that resulted in losses of more than $76,000 in total to the IRS. 

In accordance with their plea agreements, both Maddox and Carter-Smith testified in the trial against Burnette, who was convicted on one count of extortion, two counts of honest services mail fraud, one count of the use of a facility in interstate commerce to facilitate bribery, and one count of making false statements, and who is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 28.

“Today’s sentences are a result of our tireless efforts to pursue justice for those who put their trust in their elected representatives,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “We will never cease working to ensure that both public officials who fail the citizens of their community by accepting bribes, and those who pay bribes, are held accountable.”

“The democratic system on which our country was founded relies on the consent and trust of the governed,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Jason R. Coody for the Northern District of Florida. “Our citizens deserve and expect that their elected representatives will honor their oath - acting in the public’s interest, rather than accepting bribes and payments out of fear or favor. Today’s sentences acknowledge betrayal of the public trust, the resulting erosion of confidence in our democratic process, and should serve as a significant deterrent to those who would seek to illegally profit from public service. With our law enforcement partners, we remain committed to ensuring that anyone who violates the public’s trust is held accountable.”

“The individuals sentenced today abused Maddox's public office for their own private gain,” said Assistant Director Calvin A. Shivers of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Actions like this erode the trust that Americans place in our governmental institutions, and the FBI will not tolerate such contemptable disregard of public’s trust by elected officials who promise to serve them. The FBI and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting the government’s integrity by bringing corrupt officials and their cohorts, like Maddox and Carter-Smith, to justice, and we will never stop working to uncover others who think they are beyond the reach of the law.”

“Maddox and Carter-Smith brazenly filed fraudulent tax returns to cheat the government, perhaps because they thought their political ties made them above the law,” said Special Agent in Charge Brian Payne of IRS-Criminal Investigation. “Those Americans who file accurate, honest, and timely returns can be assured that the government will hold accountable those who don’t.”

The FBI Jacksonville Field Office and IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Deputy Chief Peter M. Nothstein and Trial Attorney Rosaleen T. O’Gara of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen M. Kunz and Andrew J. Grogan of the Northern District of Florida prosecuted the case.

A former Hamtramck, Michigan, Police Department officer was sentenced today in federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan for using unjustified and unreasonable excessive force during an arrest of a civilian and violating that civilian’s civil rights. As a result of the assault, the victim, identified in court documents only as D.M., suffered broken facial bones and lacerations requiring stitches, among other injuries.

Ryan McInerney, 45, of Grosse Ile Township, Michigan, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gershwin A. Drain to three years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. McInerney pleaded guilty on Jan. 8 to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. As part of the plea agreement, McInerney also voluntarily relinquished his law enforcement license.

“The defendant abused the trust given to him as a law enforcement officer when he pistol-whipped two arrestees on two separate occasions,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will vigorously prosecute law enforcement officials who violate federal civil rights laws to ensure that the rights of all individuals, including those being taken into custody, are protected.”

“The vast majority of police officers are decent, caring and honorable men and women who are dedicated to protecting and serving the public and safeguarding civil rights,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Saima Mohsin for the Eastern District of Michigan. “We live in a nation governed by the rule of law and no one is above the law. Police officers like McInerney who use unreasonable and excessive force and who inflict harm on the very citizens they are sworn to protect will be vigorously prosecuted and brought to justice.”

“The sentencing today is an example of the FBI’s dedication to Civil Rights through its investigations of police officers who abuse their authority under color of law to violate the constitutional rights of those they swore to serve and protect,” said Special Agent in Charge Timothy Waters of the FBI Detroit Field Office. “This case should not diminish the work conducted every day by the vast majority of men and women in law enforcement, but the few, like Ryan McInerney, who abuse their official capacity in dereliction of duty, will be prosecuted like any other criminal.”

During the plea hearing, the defendant admitted that on the night of June 22, 2014, while he was on duty as a Hamtramck Police Department (HPD) officer, he initiated a traffic stop on D.M. After D.M. stopped his car, the defendant approached the driver’s side door and ordered D.M. to put his hands up, and D.M. complied. Regardless, and without justification, the defendant used his service firearm to pistol-whip D.M. several times in the face, through the open window of D.M.’s car door. D.M. did not present a danger to the defendant, and there was no lawful reason for the pistol-whipping. The strikes caused D.M. to suffer broken facial bones, among other injuries. The defendant further admitted that he intentionally memorialized a false account of this incident in an official HPD use of force form in order to cover up his excessive use of force against D.M. and to impede any further investigation of this incident. The defendant also admitted that, later that same night during a different arrest, he pistol-whipped a second civilian, identified as J.M., also without justification, breaking J.M.’s teeth.

This case was investigated by the FBI and was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Risa Berkower of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Frances Lee Carlson of the Eastern District of Michigan.

Former Florida Department of Corrections Officer Terrance Reynolds, 31, was sentenced yesterday to 33 months in prison and two years of supervised release. Reynolds was convicted following a fourteen-day trial for conspiring to assault youthful offender inmates at the South Florida Reception Center, a prison located in Doral, Florida. A second former officer previously pleaded guilty in this case and was sentenced in federal court.  

Evidence presented at trial established that on March 27, 2017, Reynolds and former Sergeant Brendan Butler, 31, conspired to physically assault and intimidate youthful offender inmates for being disruptive and disrespectful earlier that morning. Reynolds and Butler then instructed three of the inmates to exit their housing unit and took them into a mop closet. Once inside the mop closet, Reynolds and Butler assaulted one of the inmates with a stick, causing him bodily injury, while the other two inmates stood nearby. The following day, Reynolds and Butler assaulted one of the other inmates to punish him for being disrespectful. Inmates may be classified as youthful offenders by a court or the Department of Corrections, and are generally twenty-four years old or younger. Butler previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the inmates’ civil rights.  

“Corrections officers who use unjustified force against inmates in their custody violate the Constitution, and the Justice Department will not tolerate that,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We are committed to ensuring the safety of prisoners and prosecuting officers who break the public’s trust in this way.” 

“The corrections officer sentenced violated not only the Constitution, but also the public’s trust,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida. “Seeking justice for victims whose civil rights are violated by those in positions of power has always been, and will continue to be, a top priority of this office.”

“The actions of former corrections officer Terrance Reynolds are inexcusable and undercut the public’s trust in our institutions and officials,” said Deputy Special Agent in Charge Denise M. Stemen of the FBI Miami Field Office. “The FBI’s Miami Area Corruption Task Force was assembled and designed to root out this type of reprehensible conduct. I commend the professionalism and hard work of the Florida Department of Corrections Office of the Inspector General and their close cooperation with FBI for this investigation.”

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Miami Area Corruption Task Force and the Florida Department of Corrections Office of the Inspector General. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Senior and Brian Dobbins of the Southern District of Florida and Special Litigation Counsel Samantha Trepel of the Civil Rights Division.

A Colorado man was sentenced to federal prison today for stabbing a Black man from Ontario, Oregon, while the man was sitting in a fast-food restaurant.

Nolan Levi Strauss, 27, was sentenced to 16 years in federal prison and five years of supervised release.

According to court documents and statements made at the sentencing hearing, on the morning of Dec. 21, 2019, Strauss was at a Pilot Travel Center in Ontario, Oregon, when he saw a Black man walk into the adjoining Arby’s Restaurant. Strauss did not know the man and had never seen him before, but he decided he wanted to kill the man, because he was Black. The man was at the Arby’s to provide documentation for a pending job application. He sat in a booth by himself and waited to meet with the restaurant manager, when Strauss entered the building and approached the man from behind.

Suddenly, unprovoked and without warning, Strauss stabbed the man twice in the neck, cutting his jugular vein and causing blood to rush out of the man’s neck. The man struggled to wrest the knife from Strauss, certain that he would die if he was stabbed again. A maintenance worker approached Strauss and directed him to drop the knife several times. Finally, the stabbing victim broke free from Strauss’s grip and ran to the other side of the restaurant where he collapsed on the floor, his clothes soaked with blood. While employees tried to provide first aid to the victim and his life-threatening injuries, the maintenance worker used a belt to secure Strauss’s hands behind his back and waited for police to arrive.

While they waited, the worker asked Strauss why he stabbed the man. Strauss replied, “Because he was Black, and I don’t like Black people.” Strauss was arrested at the scene. In two interviews with the police later that day, Strauss explained his beliefs about Black people, describing them as manipulative, lacking morality, and “not good people.” As Strauss told police, the color of the victim’s skin was Strauss’s “only problem with him.” 

“This defendant is being held accountable for his brutal and racially-motivated attack against a Black man carried out because of the color of his skin,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Racially motivated attacks have no place in our society, and the Civil Rights Division will continue to vigorously enforce federal laws that prohibit bias motivated violence.”  

“We hope the lengthy sentence imposed today will bring some measure of peace and closure for the man viciously attacked by Nolan Strauss,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Scott Erik Asphaug for the District of Oregon. “The sentence should also send a clear message to anyone contemplating similar acts of violence: hatred and bigotry will not be tolerated.”

“All Oregonians should be able to live and work without fear that their skin color will mark them for violence,” said Special Agent in Charge Kieran L. Ramsey of the FBI Oregon Field Office. “Beyond the physical and emotional damage done to a victim, such violence can infect an entire community with divisiveness and despair. This is not the kind of place that any of us want to raise our families, and we stand with the entire community in saying this is not acceptable and we will not allow it.”

As a result of Strauss’s attack, the stabbing victim suffered two large lacerations to his neck. He was evaluated in Ontario and subsequently life-flighted to a hospital in Boise, Idaho, for emergency surgery.

On Sept. 17, 2020, a federal grand jury in Eugene returned a one-count indictment charging Strauss with a hate crime involving an attempt to kill. On June 17, 2021, he pleaded guilty to the charge.

This case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Ontario Police Department, Oregon State Police and the Malheur County District Attorney’s Office. It was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Cameron A. Bell for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gavin W. Bruce for the District of Oregon.

A federal indictment was unsealed today in the Southern District of New York charging a former employee of the Swedish multinational telecommunications company Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (“Ericsson” or “the Company”) for his alleged role in a scheme to pay approximately $2.1 million in bribes to high-level government officials in the Republic of Djibouti and conspiring to launder funds to promote the scheme. The defendant remains at large.

According to court documents, Afework “Affe” Bereket, 53, a dual citizen of Ethiopia and Sweden, allegedly engaged in the scheme between 2010 and January 2014. During that time, Bereket served as the account manager for the Horn of Africa, a region that included Djibouti, while on a long-term assignment for Ericsson in Africa. According to the indictment, Bereket participated in a scheme to bribe two high-ranking officials in Djibouti’s executive branch and a high-level executive at Djibouti’s state-owned telecommunications company to obtain a contract with the state-owned telecommunications company valued at approximately €20.3 million. To effectuate the bribery scheme, Bereket and others caused an Ericsson subsidiary to enter into a sham contract with a consulting company and approve fake invoices to conceal the bribe payments. Bereket and others also completed a draft due diligence report that failed to disclose the spousal relationship between the owner of the consulting company and one of the high-ranking government officials who was bribed. To promote the bribery scheme, Bereket caused Ericsson to transfer the funds to and through bank accounts in the United States.

On Dec. 6, 2019, Ericsson entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice in connection with a criminal information filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York charging the Company with conspiracies to violate the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). An Ericsson subsidiary, Ericsson Egypt Ltd, pleaded guilty on the same day to a one-count criminal information charging it with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. Pursuant to its agreement with the department, Ericsson paid a total penalty of over $520 million.

Bereket is charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted of both counts, Bereket faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

“Bereket allegedly used the U.S. financial system to pay bribes to high-level government officials in Djibouti to ensure that Swedish telecom giant Ericsson won a multimillion-dollar government contract,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s unsealed charges demonstrate the department’s commitment to hold individuals accountable for violations of the FCPA and to ensure that business is won or lost on merit, not the amount of bribes a company’s employees and agents are willing to pay.”

“As alleged, Afework Bereket conspired in a corrupt scheme to pay millions of dollars in bribes to two Djibouti government officials and an official of a state-owned telecom company to win a contract for Ericsson valued at more than €20 million,” said U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss for the Southern District of New York. “To disguise the scheme, Bereket allegedly engaged in financial sleight-of-hand involving a sham consulting contract, a false due-diligence report, and fake invoices.  The alleged criminal scheme has been exposed, and Affe Bereket is now charged in our district with serious federal crimes.”

“Our global economy should be one free from corrupt practices,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Darrell J. Waldon of the IRS-Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Washington, D.C. Field Office. “The indictment unsealed today reflects the veracity in which IRS-CI will investigate those who engage in bribery to receive their business. Together with our partners at the Department of Justice, we will continue our efforts to ensure fair competition for companies around the world.”

Assistant Chief Andrew Gentin and Trial Attorneys Michael Culhane Harper and James Mandolfo of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Abramowicz and Juliana Murray of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided investigative assistance.

The Fraud Section has lead responsibility for investigating and prosecuting all FCPA matters. Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Note: The indictment against the Defendant, Michael Zmijewski, was dismissed on Oct. 19, 2022.

A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois returned a one-count indictment charging Michael Zmijewski for his role in a money laundering conspiracy involving kickbacks. Zmijewski is a former President of Mr. David’s Flooring International LLC (Mr. David’s), a Chicago-based commercial flooring contractor. Zmijewski is the sixth individual, along with three companies, that have been charged as result of the ongoing federal antitrust investigation.

According to the indictment, Zmijewski engaged in a money laundering conspiracy to conceal kickback payments he authorized Mr. David’s to pay to Carter Brett, an account executive for a large flooring manufacturer, in exchange for low pricing. According to the charge, Zmijewski authorized checks from Mr. David’s to a shell corporation established by Brett for the sole purpose of receiving the illegal kickback payments. According to the charge, Zmijewski and his co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from at least as early as 2013 until as late as June 13, 2018.

“The Antitrust Division, together with our law enforcement partners, will vigorously prosecute those who break the law to undermine competition, including those who conspire to launder illicit proceeds of crimes,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard A. Powers of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.

“Kickbacks have no place in the American marketplace,” said Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office. “This indictment serves as a warning to anyone looking to profit illegally at the expense of consumers.”

The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit money laundering is 20 years of imprisonment and a fine of $500,000. The fine may be increased to twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, if that amount is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The charges are the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into bid rigging, price fixing, and other anticompetitive conduct in the commercial flooring industry, conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office and the FBI’s Chicago Field Division.

Anyone with information in connection with this investigation should contact the Antitrust Division’s Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit http://www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.

A California man has agreed to plead guilty today to federal criminal charges for attacking five victims at a family-owned Turkish restaurant last year while shouting anti-Turkish slurs, hurling chairs at the victims and threatening to kill them, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Tracy Wilkison of the Central District of California announced.

William Stepanyan, 23, of Glendale, has agreed to plead to one count of conspiracy and one hate crime charge, according to a plea agreement filed Monday in U.S. District Court. He is expected to enter a guilty plea to the felony charges in the coming weeks.

Turkey and Armenia are two neighboring countries in the Caucasus region of Asia that have historically experienced significant conflict, part of which has stemmed from Turkey’s support of Azerbaijan in its border conflict with Armenia. When a new war broke out between Armenian and Azeri military forces in September 2020, tensions in Turkish and Armenian communities escalated worldwide, including in the United States. Numerous protests and counter-protests, pitting individuals of Armenian and Turkish descent against one another, took place in Los Angeles County.

According to his plea agreement, on Nov. 4, 2020, Stepanyan, who is Armenian-American, sent a text message saying that he planned to go “hunting for [T]urks.” Later that day, Stepanyan met with his co-defendant Harutyun Harry Chalikyan, 24, of Tujunga, and other Armenian-Americans to protest what they considered to be Turkish aggression against Armenians, express their contempt for Turkey and show their support for Armenia.

Stepanyan, Chalikyan and other Armenian-Americans then drove to the family-owned restaurant, where Stepanyan and Chalikyan stormed into the restaurant and attacked the victims inside. Stepanyan and Chalikyan, who were both wearing masks during the attack, flung chairs at the victims while shouting derogatory slurs about Turkish people. Four of the five victims were of Turkish descent. At least one of the defendants threatened to kill the victims, shouting: “We came to kill you! We will kill you!”

During the attack, multiple victims were injured, including one individual who lost feeling in their legs and collapsed multiple times due to the injury. Also during the attack, Stepanyan ripped out the restaurant’s computer terminals and stole a victim’s iPhone.

The restaurant suffered at least $20,000 in damage and had to close temporarily, resulting in thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

After he enters the guilty pleas to the two felony offenses, Stepanyan will face a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.

Chalikyan is scheduled to go on trial in this matter on Oct. 26. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy and five hate crime charges.

The FBI conducted the investigation in this matter and received substantial assistance from the Beverly Hills Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Greer Dotson of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, and Trial Attorney Michael J. Songer of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.

Three former National Football League (NFL) players have pleaded guilty for their roles in a nationwide scheme to defraud a health care benefit program for retired NFL players. A total of 15 defendants have pleaded guilty in connection with this scheme.

Clinton Portis, 40, of Fort Mill, South Carolina, and Tamarick Vanover, 47, of Tallahassee, Florida, pleaded guilty on Friday, Sept. 3. Robert McCune, 40, of Riverdale, Georgia, pleaded guilty on Aug. 24. The former players admitted to participating in a scheme to defraud the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan (the Plan). The Plan was established pursuant to the NFL’s 2006 collective bargaining agreement and provided for tax-free reimbursement of out-of-pocket medical care expenses that were not covered by insurance, and that were incurred by former players, their spouses, and their dependents – up to a maximum of $350,000 per player. 

According to court documents, Portis caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to the Plan on his behalf over a two-month period, obtaining $99,264 in benefits for expensive medical equipment that was not actually provided. Vanover recruited three other former NFL players into the fraudulent scheme and assisted them in causing false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to the Plan, obtaining $159,510 for expensive medical equipment that was not actually provided. McCune orchestrated the nationwide fraud, which resulted in approximately $2.9 million in false and fraudulent claims being submitted to the Plan and the Plan paying out approximately $2.5 million on those claims between June 2017 and April 2018.

Portis and Vanover pleaded guilty two days after a trial against them resulted in a hung jury and a mistrial on certain counts against Vanover. McCune, the third defendant in that trial, pleaded guilty to all charges against him on the second day of trial. A retrial on the charges against Portis and Vanover had been scheduled to begin today.

Portis and Vanover were originally indicted, along with McCune and seven other defendants, in the Eastern District of Kentucky in December 2019 for their roles in the fraud. Since the initial charges were announced, five additional retired NFL players were charged in the scheme. All 12 of the other defendants charged have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud: Joseph Horn, Correll Buckhalter, Carlos Rogers, James Butler, Etric Pruitt, Ceandris Brown, John Eubanks, Antwan Odom, Darrell Reid, Anthony Montgomery, Fredrick Bennett, and Donald “Reche” Caldwell, who passed away in June 2020.

Portis and Vanover pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and agreed to pay full restitution to the Plan. Portis is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6, 2022, and Vanover is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 22, 2022. They each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

McCune pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud, 13 counts of health care fraud, 11 counts of wire fraud, and three counts of aggravated identity theft. McCune is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 19. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud, 10 years for each count of health care fraud, 20 years for each count of wire fraud, and two years for each count of aggravated identity theft.

A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier IV for the Eastern District of Kentucky; and Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office made the announcement.

This case was investigated by the FBI and included efforts by various FBI Field Offices and Resident Agencies, including Augusta, Georgia; Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama; Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Columbia, South Carolina; Dallas and Houston, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Jackson, Mississippi; Lexington, Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; Miami, Jacksonville, and Tampa, Florida; Newark, New Jersey; Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, and Newport Beach, California; Phoenix, Arizona; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Washington, D.C. 

Trial Attorneys John (Fritz) Scanlon and Alexander J. Kramer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Smith of the Eastern District of Kentucky are prosecuting the case.

The U.S. Department of Justice today issued the following statement from Attorney General Merrick B. Garland regarding Texas SB8: 

“While the Justice Department urgently explores all options to challenge Texas SB8 in order to protect the constitutional rights of women and other persons, including access to an abortion, we will continue to protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services pursuant to our criminal and civil enforcement of the FACE Act, 18 U.S.C. § 248.

“The FACE Act prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services. It also prohibits intentional property damage of a facility providing reproductive health services. The department has consistently obtained criminal and civil remedies for violations of the FACE Act since it was signed into law in 1994, and it will continue to do so now.

“The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack. We have reached out to U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and FBI field offices in Texas and across the country to discuss our enforcement authorities. 

“We will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services, physical obstruction or property damage in violation of the FACE Act.”

If you have an incident, concern, or questions, please contact the FBI at FBI.gov/tips or through the complaint portal civilrights.justice.gov.